Five Nights at Bloaty's
by SaintHeartwing
Summary: Gaz is forced to get a job in order for her and her brother to fulfill her father's will. She thinks working at Bloaty's won't be such an issue. After all, she loves the place, always has since she was a little girl. And sure, her brother has heard some...weird rumors about the place. But its no biggie. Right?...right?
1. The First Shift, Part 1

Losing your father put priorities in order.

Gazlene Membrane's head hung low, her eyes stony and cold as the man in the suit read out her father's will to her and her brother. She hadn't even brought her Game Slave. Losing the person she cared most about in the world had actually managed to pierce through her incredibly hard, outer shell of emotional deadness and she just sat there in the chair, hands on her lap. The man droned on and on, his stupid red tie the only in the grey room beyond her hair and her brother's small blue tie. It had been hastily put on, but he clearly regretted it, since he'd gotten it out of his father's closet and it looked as though merely wearing it was making him steadily sicker and sicker.

Dib had a single tear trailing down his cheek. His lips were taut as he listened to the man. He had to. Gaz was simply lost in herself, a frail twig being blown about in a whirlwind of pain, her face occasionally twitching, revealing just a fraction of pure agony. She couldn't handle this. Not really. He knew, by the time they got home, Gaz would get it all out. But until then, he'd have to be strong for both of them and listen to the man in the suit. His dad's will had to be understood, and his father's wishes were important. Most of all, it involved Dib taking over the family business. Looking after the lab.

It would be difficult, admittedly. After all, he wasn't even 18 yet. But Dad had insisted his genius son would rise to the task. After all, hadn't he been talking less and less about Zim over the years? Becoming more interested in true science such as genetics?

And ironically, this was true. Zim had made a hurtful comment to Dib one day about him being just as much a pathetic "test tube baby" as he was, and Dib had hit him across the face so hard he'd flown across the hallway and into a locker. But it had made him look up his own true parentage and had kicked off a fascination with DNA and the study of genes. Dib still didn't care exactly how he was made, though. Because just hearing his father had trusted him with this made him feel closer to his father in death than he ever had in life.

There was one requirement, however, for them to inherit their father's wealth, and this meant proving to the federal government they would both have a steady source of income to provide for themselves. And Dib wouldn't be able to take his position at the lab for at least a week while the paperwork was filed. So this meant Gaz had to find a job, and do so by the end of the week or the government would classify them as wards of the state, and their father's fortune would be cut off from them until both were 18.

Dib didn't want that, though. And he knew Gaz didn't. This was rightfully theirs, and the sole comfort of being without a father. They needed that money. So this meant Gaz would have to find a job.

But where she could go would have to wait. As Dib drove Gaz home, her head still bowed slightly, he bit into his lip, his amber/gold eyes behind the blue glasses he had briefly glancing back to Gaz as he tried to think of what to say, the rain pouring down in a steady rhythm against the windshield. He hesitated, mouth slightly opening as the windshield wipers went SWISH-SWISH back and forth. "I'll, um…I'll boot up my laptop, get the Classifieds so you can look. But it can wait until tomorrow, right?"

Unfortunately, he'd been wrong about the whole "let it all out by the time they got home" idea. Before the light even turned red, Gaz began screaming, gripping her hair, the tears streaming fully down her cheeks. Her throat turned hoarse as she howled, her eyes red and near bloodstained as her body quaked, Dib pulling the car over and just looking at her, wanting to do something, anything, but unsure he could even try.

At last, she finished and held her head in her hands, silently wracked by quiet sobs before, at last, turning to look at him.

"I need a pizza." She muttered. "Just…just need something to eat. I'll probably feel better."

"I'll swing by the new Bloaty's." He offered.

That got a tiny little smile out of her as he pulled the car back onto the main road and began driving, Gaz gripping her knees as Dib kept the car moving deeper into Philadelphia. It wasn't long before the familiar colors of Bloaty's Pizza came up on the horizon, a big, cartoon Bloaty's stuffing a pizza into his mouth situated atop the restaurant on Fifth and Main as the word's "Bloaty's" flickered on and off the neon sign the gaudish sight shared. Within a few minutes, they were walking inside, Dib getting a booth in the brightly-colored yellow and red-walled pizza place as kids whacked away at arcade machines in the back and Gaz looked over a menu.

Being at a Bloaty's always made her feel a bit better. Their pizza was so much a part of her childhood that the mere smell of it made her sniffle less as Dib ordered the usual for himself, Gaz taking notice of something at the back of the menu. Something located at the bottom, and her eyes widened. Gaz and her brother shared something: they didn't really believe too much in coincidences. And the words "Help Wanted" at the bottom of the menu was sending a very clear message to her.

"Excuse me, is-is this for real?" Gaz asked the blond waitress that was serving them, raising an eyebrow up, trying to regain her voice, despite how hoarse it was right now. "You-you're really hiring?"

"Yes, our business is hiring. You see, we need a night guard to look out for this location." The waitress admitted, gesturing around the Bloaty's as a few kids ran by the waitress to go and play at the ball pit, hopping inside as the rainbow-colored plastic balls went flying all around. The kids began bobbing each other over the head with the balls, giddily laughing as Gaz stared at them, then the arcade games, then the kitchen far, far in the back, slightly to the right of the bathrooms. "Are you interested, ma'am?"

Gaz almost thought about whacking her in the face since she was younger than this woman by at least a decade, but she didn't care. She needed a job. And Bloaty's was hiring.

It was, to put it simply, perfect.

The next day, Gaz was looking over the paperwork she'd been given by Bloaty's management the night before, and was scribbling down answers furiously, eager to get this over with and to get to work. Once she handed it in, she could get started that evening. But Dib was slightly worried. He, at first, had been quite happy with the idea of Gaz working at Bloaty's. How hard could it truly be to be a night guard? What kind of a **loser** was going to rob a frickin' Bloaty's?

But he remembered the rumors. There had, after all, been that awful incident. The one that had gotten the former man who played the Bloaty's of "Bloaty's the Pizza Hog" fired. He had, according to the establishment, accidentally suffocated a child to death in his fat flaps during a private party. But Torque, who'd been at Bloaty's that day, said that was bullshit. No, he insisted that the guy had purposefully done it because the kid had been making fun of how fat he was, and that Bloaty's had just paid off the kid's parents to keep them from filing charges. Dib had doubted that a man would smother a child because they told him he was fat. But it hadn't helped when he saw the former man, Phillip Hartnett, on the news. He'd radiated something "off" about him.

And then there had been that missing child. That kid, Keef. The creepy, orange-headed kid. He'd just gone missing one day, and he'd last been seen at Bloaty's. Dib had wondered if, perhaps, Zim had had something to do with that, but Zim had supposedly been called away to Irk by his leaders, according to GIR, and hadn't been around for almost a year.

So as Gaz kept writing on the circular kitchen table, Dib came in, putting down something next to her as she looked it over. "…what's this?"

"It doubles as a lighter and a can of mace." He said. "Just, you know. In case."

Gaz looked it over. He was trying to be helpful, and as much as the old Gaz might have told him she didn't need this stuff, at the moment she didn't mind. Besides. Free lighter and mace shooter. "Okay." She said, snatching up the black, rectangular thing and pocketing it in her striped "Bloaty's Pizza Hog" uniform. "But if you really want to help, go talk to Bloaty's management and say, as a customer, you're sick of them making the female staff wear skirts."

This was true. She had to wear a fuckin' skirt. A goddamn skirt. She was supposed to be a night guard. Not a freakin' waitress. She wanted to look like Ripley, not Dorothy. Instead she had to wear a white, yellow and red outfit with a stupid wannabe trucker hat and a goddamn fuckin' skirt. The only thing that gave her comfort was that she could still wear her skull choker around her neck. Dib gave her a nod as he let her get back to the paperwork, Gaz lifting her head up again. "Hey, by the way, have you seen GIR? He hasn't been by our house to bother me lately."

"No. I don't know why not." Dib admitted with a shrug as he opened up the refrigerator. "I kind of missed his attempts to hit on you. It was cute, like a dog digging up something and plopping it at your feet to cheer you up!" He chuckled, Gaz putting her signature on the paper before stapling them together. "All done? Good thing you're only a block away. You're so close you can just walk there."

"This'll be easy." Gaz reasoned, adjusting the hat atop her head before getting up and heading out the door.

…

…

…

…Bloaty's Pizza Hog was a far different place at night than it was at day. A fact Gaz was keenly aware of as she walked around the dining area, shining the flashlight she'd been given, frowning a bit. Every single plushy red booth seat took on a sickeningly dark red shade in the lack of light, save for the few booths that had moonlight filtering in from outside. To save money, all the lights were turned off, and the door was chained from the inside to keep out potential criminals, cold iron jangling after she'd finished adding the final touches. The floor was equally cold, she could feel it through her sneakers, an ugly faded white color that was stained with countless ketchup and pizza sauce stains as she sauntered around the dining region, eyes peering over the many tables. It was too cold too, she could almost faintly see her breath in the September air as leaves from the trees outside flew by the tightly-shut windows, the wind making the entire place seem to "breathe" as it creaked slightly.

Gaz kept moving forward, passing into the arcade section in the west section of the restaurant. All of the games were turned off, big, overly cheery or violent faces on the sides of every machine as Gaz walked by them. Fists held up to smash into enemy monsters on the other end of the games, big race cars-oh! Vampire Piggy Hunter, Hyper Arcade Edition. Gaz smiled a bit at this, stopping before the large black machine, putting her hand on the slim face of "Piggy Hunter's" main protagonist, the black, wide-brimmed hat wearing eponymous hunter for whom the game was named. Maybe if things worked out, she could find a way to get the power back on and play a few rounds. Turning her head to look past the machine, she could see the prize booth at the far end of the arcade, next to an immense black change machine and a couple of vending machines selling Poop cola. She approached the booth, placing her free hand on the glass case and looking down. All the prizes were gone for the moment, there was nothing below her nor on the large and long white shelves behind it, a single cash register to her left with a tiny little bell to ring at the very top.

She playfully rang it. **Ding!** "I'd like to report I got all these tickets, and you ain't got any prizes? Ripoff artists." She snarkily remarked, turning around and heading for the kitchen.

The vending machines were off too, but as she made her way through the north wing hallways to the kitchen, the possibility of getting some leftover pizza from the kitchen's fridge was an appealing one. She pushed the double doors with their singular circular window open, blinking as she looked around. Ovens for cooking the pizzas, check. Countertop for mixing ingredients, check. Cabinets and cupboards full of ingredients, check-ah! The fridge! She walked over to the large, steely grey fridge, moving across the oddly pristine white floor of the kitchen as a single light fixture swung overhead.

She opened up the fridge, looking inside. Yep, there were some pizzas about halfway cut still remaining, the pieces to be sliced up and served as individuals to customers later. Just taking one wouldn't hurt, she reasoned to herself, reaching out and picking up a pepperoni slice, making for the oven. She'd just heat it up a bit in there, since the place didn't seem to have a microwave. Putting the flashlight on the countertop by the big oven, she reached for the handle on the oven. It was an unusual type of oven, it had a window, but it was oddly high-up on the slab-doors. She didn't know why they'd have a window so high up on an oven door that you almost had to stand on your tippy-toes just to peek inside-

**Ding!**

Gaz froze. She almost dropped the pizza then and there, instead slowly turning around, opening the oven door and putting the slice in, then carefully closing it. She picked the flashlight up, inching towards the door to the kitchen, grabbing hold of the lighter/mace she had in her pocket. She pulled it out, flicking the "mace" function on as a small nozzle popped up at the top of the black rectangular device and advanced towards the door. Her eyes narrowed as she slowly pushed it open, gazing out through the hallway, making her way past the children's drawings posted on the wall, aiming her flashlight back the way she'd come at the arcade room and the prize counter-

A brief flash of something white, and then it was gone. Gaz blinked, glancing left and right as she approached the countertop, looking at the cash register.

The bell was gone.

Gaz growled, shaking the flashlight a bit as she looked around. "Dib, is that you?! Are you playing some kind of stupid joke on me!? Or is this one of your stupid tricks, Zim?!" She hissed out, advancing forward through the arcade.

**Ding!**

She whipped towards the noise. The kitchen. She immediately took off for it, gripping the mace in one hand, the flashlight in the other, turning the flashlight off. She snuck up to the door, taking in a deep breath before kicking the double doors open, flashlight held up, mace at the ready. "This time I'm going to-"

She stopped. The oven was open, her mouth dropping as she gazed in horror at the scene playing out before her eyes. There, inside the oven, skin sizzling and popping with tiny little bubbles, was a body. It's flesh was cooking in the oven, mouth slightly hung open as blood and fat and muscle pooled down below, slicking off its form to sizzle into nothingness on the bottom. Its eyes had long since popped, its face sunken in, its clothing burning into tatters, leaving nothingness behind. An all-too real and harsh smell was assaulting her nostrils, it all seemed too insane to be happening.

But then she saw the hair which was still remaining behind. The hair. It was a dead giveaway. It was Keef. His mouth open in an eternal unending scream.

Gaz reeled back, the door shutting, briefly flicking the image back in front of her as her mouth hung slightly open, as if scarcely able to believe what she'd seen before she shoved the door open again-

Nothing. The oven was still closed, no more hellish fire illuminating the interior. Everything was perfectly normal. She took in a deep breath, moving forward and putting the flashlight on the counter, opening up the oven…

Her pizza slice was ready. She carefully took hold of a nearby oven mitt, picking it out and putting it onto a plate and heading out of the kitchen, making for the dining room. As she sat down in a booth, she looked down at the plate.

A lock of orange hair rested on the slice of pizza.

Gaz immediately chucked the slice across the room and it slid down the wall, coming to a halt with a wet and squishy KER-PLOP on the floor. She wasn't hungry. She rubbed her eyes, moaning softly, and checked the clock on the wall. Her shift wasn't over yet. Only halfway done. Rising up, she made her way to the arcade room again, looking at the Vampire Piggy Hunter Machine.

Wait.

She was sure he'd been looking right at the piggies on the other side of the machine. Now Piggy Hunter was staring right at her.

**Ding!**

Gaz whipped around, eyes widening. A soft, barely visible white form was holding something in tiny little stumpy hands, black spaces where eyes ought to have been faintly visible, a face that wasn't a face looking up at her.

_Help me help me help me help me HELP ME HELP ME HELPMEHELPME__**HELPME**_

And then it was gone, leaving only the bell behind.


	2. The First Shift, Part 2

_Gaz hadn't exactly been too thrilled about standing up for him when she'd first seen him getting beaten._

_He'd been practically lying in a puddle of his own tears and blood, Torque and his friends kicking him again and again and laughing uproariously. Yet another great Recess, Gaz had remarked inside her head as she turned her attention back to her Game Slave 3 device, continuing to get through "Vampire Piggy Hunter: RPG". It was the latest spinoff game in the series and she had to-_

_Then she'd heard it. Heard his voice. For a moment, she'd done nothing, as if taking it all in. Then she'd bolted in his direction, punching Torque so hard in the back of the head he'd spun through the air and slammed into the fence at the other end of the playground. The other kids took off running as Gaz helped the sniffling Nicholas up._

_"Gaz." She'd said simply, Dib blinking in surprise at this display as he and Zim looked away from each other's argument, both pointing accusingly as Nicholas wiped his nose on his arm and sniffled._

_"N-N-Nicholas." He murmured. "Th-thank you for that. Y-You didn't really have to."_

_"Well I did."_

_"Yo-you're really n-nuh-nuh nice." Nicholas mumbled. "I-I be-better go get-get washed, m-my mom, my mom she won't, she won't like me all d-d-dirty."_

_"Come on. I'll walk you there." Gaz said with a sigh, putting a hand on his shoulder and leading him towards the school's doors, Dib understnaidng why she was doing this with a quiet nod before kicking Zim between the legs. He was satisfied with the result, taking off as Zim hobbled as best he could after, Gaz bringing Nick to the men's bathroom and standing outside it. She nodded at him as he went in. "Go on. Can't disappoint your mom."_

Gaz wasn't stupid. She knew full well she was in a haunted pizzeria, and trying to deny that would have been idiotic. She'd seen a dead child and, evidently, its ghost. She'd seen things moved from where they'd been before. She saw artwork changed to glare accusingly at her.

Frankly, she had seen enough. The smart thing to do would be to get out of the damn place and-

Wait. The door! The door, it was locked on her end. She raced towards the front door, her hat flying through the air, going clear off her head as her hands grasped around the chains she'd tied to the front door handle. She gripped them and tugged, trying to untangle him, to get to the keyhole she'd covered up. Unfortunately that was when she heard the unmistakable sound of something big and heavy moving around not too far from where she was.

Gaz let go of the chains, whipping around, focusing only on the sound of the

THRAHK. THRAHK. THRAHK.

That echoed through the pizzeria as the wind seemed to pick up outside and her eyes narrowed intensely. She grabbed hold of a nearby table's chair, waving it in front of her with a growl. "You stay the hell away from me, whatever you are!" She growled out. "Or I will stuff this chair so far through your skull you'll be able to use your head as a-"

She trailed off when she saw what she was looking at. It was, unmistakably, Bloaty. Bloaty the Pizza Hog. Pinwheel hat, ugly bowtie, big, fat gloved hands and thick shoes. The Bloaty Animatronic had been designed, evidently, to act as a replacement for the original Bloaty. Yet in the darkness, something about it was…off. It's eyes were almost completely black, a single pinprick of white gazing out at her as it opened its jaws, revealing an uncomfortably unnatural double set of teeth, one for the outer shell, the other for the endoskeleton. More disturbingly, there was the unmistakable impression left on its face: a shadow mark that indicated the entire thing was covered in dust save for one crucial area: Two handprints.

A handprint over the thing's head and another over the mouth. A clear sign that somebody had recently, and desperately, tried to keep this thing the hell away from them. And from the unmistakable red substance faintly visible on its outer teeth, they had failed. Bloaty's mouth opened unnaturally wide, tilting his head slightly to the right, then to the left as it spoke in a distorted, foul, mechanical tone. "Heyyaaa kiddies! It's yer best pal Bloaty! Come on and climb on up! I'll give you a great big HUG!"

Gaz briefly stared at the thing, scarcely able to really believe her eyes. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting. Certainly not that. But then reality hit her and she did the smart thing, launching the chair at the animatronic and taking off, diving into the hallway nearby. She raced for the women's bathrooms, crawling under the stall at the end, hiding inside, feet kept high above the floor as she wrapped her arms around her legs and waited, taking in a deep breath. She tried to breathe through her nose as silently as possible as the unmistakable thudding noise of Bloaty came ever closer, a creak echoing through the bathroom as he opened the door.

"I'll keep ya safe, kiddos! I'm your special playmate!"

Gaz bit her lip. What time was it anyhow? Five? Only five?! She had a whole other hour to go before the manager showed up at the front door to open up the place and let her out. How was she going to avoid this-this **thing** until then?

Bloaty moved slowly but surely across the floor of the bathroom, feet almost stomping on the tiles as he made his way to the stalls, pushing the first one open, then the second, then the third.

Luckily, he took a few seconds to look the stall up and down before moving on to the next one, and it took him another five seconds to reach it. Gaz carefully lowered herself down to the floor of the toilet stall she was in, waiting for him to reach the fifth stall. Yes. He banged it open and was soon looking it over, she could hear the ever-so-faint WHIRRR of his animatronic head as he glanced up and down.

"Let's go eat some Pizza with your special playmate! I've got something cool to show you in the kitchen!"

The kit-wait, what? The kitchen-

No time to think about it now. He was now turning, and Gaz scrunched down to the floor, squirming underneath the stall wall to get in through the low opening. Damn it all, why did big heads have to run in the family? Push through, she screamed inwardly. _PUSH! PUUUUUSH!_

She popped into the next stall just as Bloaty opened up the last one, and she hopped up onto the toilet, the door to this stall closed again as she kept holding her breath, not making a sound. She clung to the toilet like it was the side of a cliff and letting go meant certain death. Sure enough, Bloaty began to walk away, heading out the bathroom, Gaz hearing his footsteps fading into the distance.

"Phew." She murmured. For a brief moment she considered getting Dib up, but she frowned, shaking her head. No. No, she was going to handle this herself. She just had to get some tools that she usually used for things like this back at home, come back the next day, and she would be fine.

They were tools, of course, she'd gotten from her mother. Peg Membrane had not quite grown out of the "Mysticism" phase of her life from High School. She had put a lot of stock in magic, and after seeing some of her charms used, Gaz had understood why. Sure, being able to make a small little dancing fire in the palm of your hand that wasn't even bigger than a lighter's wouldn't do too much, but to a 4 year old girl, this sort of thing was positively amazing.

The problem was that memories like that were rare. She had snippets and pieces in her mind. Moments when Peg would sit Gaz and Dib together at the table and talk, or they'd be watching movies, or Peg would have Gaz up in her room, juggling a tiny little flame in both hands. But luckily, that was what the many, many videos her father had taken of he, his family and Peg, were for.

Gaz would just have to get her little ingredients out of her bedroom. And that meant just surviving for less than an hour more. After about ten or fifteen minutes had passed and she was sure Bloaty wasn't coming back in, Gaz carefully inched out of the bathroom, glancing quickly down the halls. Though the morning sun was beginning to poke its head up over the horizon and cast soft and hopeful rays through the windows to filter in through the shades, something was off. Instead of casting everything in a comforting glow, the entire place felt as though it was on fire, and the pizzeria had suddenly become much hotter. Gazlene Membrane tugged at her collar, gritting her teeth slightly, uncomfortable with the rise in heat as she turned and carefully made for the main office-

She stopped when she saw the open "Parts and Services" room close by, ducking against the side of the wall as she nonchalantly heard cheerful humming. What the? Was the Bloaty animatronic trying to sing?

It was. It was humming, occasionally murmuring a part of the lyrics…to the song "Five Little Indians", that creepy, old-time song about five Native American children who all ended up dying horribly. She cringed as the animatronic's singing got a bit louder, the temperature making her sweat as she wiped her brow and-

Wait. Her eyes widened. She heard a faint muffled whimper. A whimper. And it sounded young. Her curiosity got the better of her and she peeked her eyes into the crack in the "Parts and Services" door.

She almost wished she hadn't. Inside were other robotic figures, all standing around a small, robotic figure that was squirming about beneath Bloaty's grip. A Vampire Piggy animatronic, a Hunter animatronic, an overly cheery little boy animatronic, all of them stood by Bloaty. The Hunter had his wide-brimmed hat, but the hat unmistakably had a face on it, leering, dark and red with a split open, fanged grin to match the horrific face below it. The hunter had sharp gauntlets it wore with a chained cloak, and pointed, sharp boots almost as pointy as the all-too-real sword that it had in its grip. The Vampire Piggy would have been cute if not for the fact that it was clearly just a costume put onto something else and the suit was sagging off as if half-melted in an oven. It had clear burnt marks on it, and singular, black pupils in the sockets, with stubby arms and it seemed to be staring off into the distance in a haunting fashion.

The cheery little boy that stood by Bloaty had on a beanie similar to Bloaty's, only it was red in color, just like the overalls it wore. They were ugly, clashing with the orange of its shirt that matched its eyes which were far, far too big and wide, as if unnaturally held open by invisible wires. Its mouth was also too widely open in a large, stupid grin and, more disturbingly, it had blood dribbling out the bottom of its form from its belly, a button slightly popped off, leaking out that foul red liquid as Gaz realized, with a horrific jolt, that she recognized the figure on the table.

GIR. It was GIR. The little robot's normally blue eyes were bugged out and filled with fear as it clutched at its head, mouth slightly open. It was gagging, hacking up and spluttering like GIR had often done after taking a drink from a SuckMunkey, and worse still, it wasn't hard to see what he was choking on. GIR was bleeding from every orifice imaginable and a few Gaz hadn't thought he could bleed from to begin with. His eyes were being slowly turned red from the cascading red, his form shaking madly as he clutched his skull. His screeching wails were long, drawn out and horrifying as the faint afterimage of a child appeared behind him.

A child Gaz recognized.

_"Do I l-luh-look alright?" Nick had asked Gaz, nervously stepping out of the bathroom. He had straightened out his shirt as best he could and he had washed off the dirt and grime and sneaker marks off as best he could, evidently. He shamefully rubbed the back of his neck, Gaz giving him an amused smile._

_"You look fine."_

_"Why d-did you help me?" He wanted to know._

_"I need a reason?" She asked._

_"…th-thanks, then." Nicholas said. "I appreciate it, G-Gazzy." He admitted._

_Normally Gaz would have punched him in the teeth for that name. She didn't let ANYONE call her by that, but…Nicholas's eyes were still red from tears, his nose still running somewhat. "Just wipe your nose." She added with a tilt of her head. "Then you'll look more than fine, okay?" She added, walking off._

_"Buh-buh-buh-bye!"_

"Nicholas?" Gaz whispered, lips slightly parting.

"You were very bad, Nicholas. You shouldn't run away from your friends. And wait until you see the wonderful new friend we brought in! You two know each other well, so we found a special, special place for him!" Bloaty said cheerily, clapping his giant hands together as Gaz finally couldn't stand it anymore. This had to stop. She was about to bust down the door, do something, ANYTHING but then-

**Ding-dong-ding-dong! Ding-dong, ding-doooong!**

With that, the animatronics vanished away, the faint afterimage of Nick lingering behind as he stared at Gaz, his face sad, mournful before there was nothing where he'd been. Only an empty table surrounded by worn-out pieces and parts of animatronics that had, at one point, all belonged to the very monstrous murder machines she'd seen only moments before. Except, of course, for GIR…

And the Bloaty thing.

Gaz frowned darkly before slamming the door shut. "Fuck you too." She muttered. She wasn't going to let whatever the Hell was behind this get away with it.

It wasn't long, thank goodness, before she was on her way home. Dib saw the look on her face, his expression one of clear concern as she gave him a look and then held up her Iphone. "Put it on the second playlist." She asked.

Dib nodded, taking the Iphone and plugging it into the car's console as Gaz sat in the passenger side of the car and buckled her seatbelt. She laid her hands on her legs, sighing a bit as the playlist began, the video playing out for her as Dib handed her her phone back and she looked down, the video's contents loudly echoing through the car for both to hear.

_Her mother Peg's hair flowed freely down her face as she and Professor Matthew Membrane took videos of themselves by Dib and Gaz's cribs, Peggy lifting Gaz up as Matthew held Dib, Pegy giving Gaz a playful little tickle. "Ooh! I think Li-Little G-G-Gazzy's ticklish! C-C-Coochie Coochie-C-Coo!"_

_"Maaa." Gaz burbled out, Peggy giving baby Gazlene a playful little kiss on the forehead._

_"You t-t-trying to say your fuh-fuh-first word? Hope she d-doesn't inherit my s-s-stutter." Peg admitted to Matthew as he shook his head back and forth._

_"I don't care if she does, Peg. She's ours. And that's all that matters."_

_"Y-Yes. You're ruh-right." Peg said with a big grin. "Who's my b-buh-baby girl? Y-YOU'RE my b-baby g-girl!"_

"What made you want to, y'know? You usually only ask for this when you, like, stumble onto something of hers we didn't box up." Dib decided to ask as they turned onto Main Street, making their way back to their house as Gaz turned to look out the window, shadows of passing buildings falling over her face, casting a pallid look upon it.

"I just…got to thinking of a friend is all." She mumbled.


	3. The Second Shift, Part 1

Gaz stepped away from her gummy bear army, nodding down at them before pacing back and forth, hands behind her back. "Alright. State mission objectives."

**"Seek and destroy all non-human life forms in Bloaty's Pizzeria."** They announced at once, their fangs gnashing in their teeth. They were the cutest widdle killing machines Gaz had ever created, and she intended to use them well tonight, a bat strapped to her back and a taser in her pocket as she nodded in approval of their ferocity.

"Good. Get in my backpack and turn off. I'll turn you back on when its time to work." She informed them, the gummy bears all saluting at once before marching towards the backpack she had by her desk. Gaz then made her way down the hall, seeing Dib was in front of his computer. "What's going on?"

"I've found a bunch of newspapers on Lexis-Nexus that talk about kids that vanished at school. And…there's a few we know, Gaz. Emily from Art Class, Old Kid…Nicholas."

Gaz flinched at this.

"I know you bonded with him cuz he had the same condition Mom had, Tourette's still isn't completely eradicated from the human gene pool the way we finally got rid of AIDS."

"It was a minor thing but…he was just so pathetic and not in the way that made me want to pick on him." Gaz remarked. "I felt…" She struggled to get the word across, and then realized she didn't truly need to. She had felt for him, and that was all that needed to be said.

Dib nodded. "You've got a lot of weaponry with you, but I'm going to do research on exorcisms just in case. And I'll swing by Zim's house too. I know he supposedly got called back to Irk, but I'm pretty sure his Computer's still there. There should be at least **something** I can use to find out what happened with GIR and how he ended up in Bloaty's like you saw." Her brother offered.

Gaz nodded. She wanted to know. And hopefully, by the end of the week, or better still the end of the day, she would.

And it wasn't long before she was in the pizzeria, making her way carefully to the main office, pulling the door open and putting the backpack down. She snapped her fingers, the Gummy Bears inside all filing out and snapping at attention. "Go out. We're here in Bloaty's, attack any nonhuman life form you see." She insisted, Gaz smirking a bit as they all filed out of the main office and she shut the door, glancing about.

The office had two doors to it. One was to a bathroom, the other to the hallway and the pizzeria outside. An immense vent was located to the right of the bathroom door, an abandoned air conditioner left below it, meaning if she truly wanted, she could crawl up inside. The desk nearby had a computer screen on it showing off, luckily for her, several camera feeds that showed off various points in the Pizzeria, and-

There it was. That floating thing. The Vampire Piggy was floating in the air, slowly moving in circles as it hovered about the unmistakable form of a curled up, sad-looking little ghost like the one who'd been holding that bell. The ghost child had its arms wrapped around its legs and was hanging its head, tucked almost totally into a ball as the Piggy kept hovering around above it. Then it stopped, twitching visibly in midair before slowly turning around, facing the camera directly. Had it the capacity, she was sure it would be smiling as it hovered towards the lens, and then slowly tilted itself to the left, then the right, before its face began to split open, the mouth that should have been impossible to move opening wide as it began to let out a sickening, croaking scream.

Gaz flinched at this. She was getting more used to seeing disgusting stuff in this pizzeria, but the sound was positively unnatural. She remembered once catching a frog in a net when she'd been out on a school trip, Torque smirking proudly as he caught several with his bare hands. He'd been holding them up, grinning stupidly as Gaz nonchalantly took her net and caught one just as it leapt clear out of his grip. But then it had begun to scream. A scream that was so shockingly human in how it came across that Gaz had dropped the net and the thing had still kept screaming until the kids decided it wasn't worth it to hang around, sneaking back to the campsite their teacher had brought them to.

Looking at the vampire piggy, she felt that same disgust and discomfort. The scream was just human enough to make her uncomfortable, and she cringed, looking at another camera. There was the hunter in his wide-brimmed hat…making his way towards the main office?! Oh crap. Oh crap! She could hear the scraping, horrific screeching noise his blade was making as it dragged against the wall, his red eyes glowing faintly in the darkness of the hallway outside, his footsteps careful and deliberate. He wanted her to know he was coming for her. She didn't know how he'd figured out she was watching but she didn't care, she had to get out of there!

Gaz raced for the air conditioner, climbing up and grabbing hold of the vent cover, tossing it away after ripping it open, the Hunter's voice wafting out from behind the main office door. "C'mon out, bonnie." It said from its fanged maw. "Come on out, be a good little bonnie lass, and I shan't stab me sword into your stomach. I'll just drive it through your eye, and then use you like a paint roller. See, the Parts and Services room could do with a lovely fresh coat of red paint." It remarked, its voice having a faintly mechanical undertone to it, with an an unmistakable Irish tone.

"Yeah, no." Gaz muttered back, dragging herself up into the vent shaft, a knock coming on the door. "Get lost or I'll shove your sword where the sun don't shine!"

"Oh, now that's a very rude attitude to have, lass." Hunter intoned, now thudding angrily on the door. "Gonna have to punish you for that! Maybe making you eat the skin I peel off your backside!"

Gaz crawled through the vent, Hunter continuing to bang on the door as she made her way through towards a far-off opening in the distance. She punched it hard, sending the cover popping off and plopped down, finding she was now in a bathroom, and hopped down, inching towards the door before halting in place. She could see something was pooling out from underneath the door crack. And the unmistakable disturbing croaking sounds were familiar. She'd heard them when GIR had begun coughing and spluttering and choking in the Parts and Services room. Blood was oozing forth from GIR's mouth and she could hear the rattling of his head as if he wanted to rip his own skull off, and she crawled into a nearby stall, staying absolutely silent.

The sickening rattling and shaking continued, GIR's cry like a childish wail as blood oozed out, sloughing underneath the bathroom door before, at long last, it began to fade away, GIR heading down the hall as the blood began to dissolve before Gaz's eyes. Evidently whatever these things did faded away by 6:00 AM in the morning, them included. She wiped her brow, exiting the stall, halting as she saw something in the corner.

It was a ghost child. It was sitting in the corner, head hung like the other one, crying quietly. Nervously, Gaz approached. The other ghost child hadn't been dangerous, after all, and she carefully inched forward. "Hello?"

The ghost child slowly rose up, turning around. It's body was completely featureless, lacking anything but sunken in black expanses for eyes, tears falling endlessly from the abyss. It looked at Gaz, tilting its head a bit before shaking slightly.

"Always…hurts." It said. "He won't let us go. He's so selfish."

"Who?" Gaz asked.

"Bloaty's so mean. Kept hurting us. Kept hurting anybody he caught cuz he can't move on. Go away." The ghost child mumbled before its "eyes" widened. Gaz could hear something approaching, hearing mocking laughter ringing through the air.

**"****Ah-hahaha!"**

Gaz growled, readying her baseball bat. She could hear the thing right outside and stood by the entrance, bat held high. Just let the thing come in. She knew it was that damn child animatronic. The one with the ugly beanie. Beanie Boy was gonna get it, and he was gonna get it now, child. He was gonna get it NOW.

Except he didn't come through. She could faintly see his shadow stretched out underneath the doorway, but he didn't move. She waited a solid minute before she heard his voice again in that same overly cheery tone.

"Hello?"

Gaz blinked, finally opening up the door, looking down at the Beanie-Wearing animatronic as it cheerily stared up at her with eyes that were disturbingly gazing through her. "What're you doing?"

"Hi."

"…hi?"

"The longer you're here, the longer you waste time and the others can catch you. Why can't you be nicer?"

"Cuz you're trying to kill me?"

"Oh, but it's so fun to see people get stuffed into a suit! All the blood goes "Splorcha-Thlork" and it splatters everywhere like a game of Splatoon!" BB remarked with giddy delight as he clapped his little stubby hands together. **"****Ah-hahaha!"**

Well, that did it. Gaz struck him with the bat, knocking him through the air and she took off running, diving underneath a table and staying prone as she heard grunting echoing through the air. She turned her head a bit, seeing the Hunter was trying to pull the gummy bears she'd brought in off of her. "Gah! Yeh dirty little-get off of me!" Hunter hissed out.

**"Kill for the mistress! KILL!"** The gummy bears roared out, Gaz smirking before realizing with a sudden sense of uneasiness that even though the things were clearly irritating the Hunter, biting into them and clawing at him, the animatronic didn't really appear that damaged. At most, they were just ruining his clothes. She inwardly cursed her short-sightedness. The gummy bears had originally been meant to get rid of pests like rodents and insects, she'd only occasionally programmed them to feed on human flesh to scare Dib. But their little fangs couldn't pierce through metal to tear into animatronic wiring.

She crawled away, inching back towards the main office and sliding inside, closing the door and putting up the chair against it, looking back at the camera feed as she saw GIR was looking up at the cameras now. Its head cracked slightly, jiggling about as if it wanted to explode into pieces, and it reached up to its face with his stubby hand. Gaz groaned in disgust as it peeled away one cheek, revealing the unmistakable sight of human flesh beneath it, GIR's mouth opening wide as it let out a wailing howl before the cameras, Gaz sinking underneath the desk, covering her eyes.

It was getting to be too much. All of this was just so much to take in-

Then she heard it from the bathroom and her eyes widened. A playful, giggling little squeak that was far too familiar and she looked to her left, seeing the Vampire Piggy was floating there. It giggled, letting out yet another familiar squeak as Gaz blinked in surprise. She knew that squeak. She KNEW that damn squeak! "Minimoose?" She asked.

Minimoose stopped in midair, the vampire piggy costume it had on faintly fading away as a ghostly child now seemed to ride atop it. Its head hung back, mouth opening as it let out a cry that began to build in fever pitch. Gaz could now see a child being cornered in a hallway, eyes widening in fear as it was held up, Minimoose being shoved over its head as the child screeched and cried and wailed. The blood poured freely from it as it futilely tried to get the former death weapon off its head, a pair of eyeballs popping-

Gaz couldn't stand it. She swung her bat, Minimoose being launched into the wall and she rushed out of the main office, bolting down the hallway and ducking into a closet, putting the bat away and getting out the lighter Dib had gotten for her, switching it to the mace dispenser as she grit her teeth.

So that was what had happened to GIR and Minimoose, she thought to herself, panting a bit as sweat began to pop up on her brow, Hunter's laughing ringing through the air as she heard the scraping sound of his sword on the wall. "Come out now, lass. For Hunter's gonna hunt down all your gummy bear friends and when he's finished, he's a c-omin' after you, he is. So be a good little lass or I'll strange you with your own intestines."

Gaz wished she had a shotgun. But no, no. She didn't want to lose this job. Just five measly nights and she could fulfill what her father had wanted. Just five nights…soon it would be four. It was already four AM in the morning, she'd be fine if she just hung on.

She hoped.

…

…

…

…elsewhere, Dib had not had good luck. Zim's home was a wreck, the couch ripped open, tiles cracked in the kitchen and cobwebs everywhere. The paintings on the walls had fallen off or were loosely hanging from their nails, whilst wallpaper was peeling off in huge chunks. Worse still, there had been no sight of GIR, Minimoose, and the Computer was near-unusable.

The entire data processing core was almost utterly corrupted, forcing Dib to take it home as he began to do serious troubleshooting late into the night. He laid hunched over the laboratory computer, eyes peering at the lines of code as he made his repairs. But he had to find something. Anything that would give him some idea as to what had happened to Zim and his robots.

What he finally wound made him gape in surprise. There hadn't been any letter from the Tallest. Zim's last electronic report had been years ago, and he'd been complaining to the Tallest (Though Dib didn't know why when they never seemed to respond) that his robot servants kept following Gaz to Bloaty's. Evidently GIR wanted to do "The Dancing Revolution with the Gaz Beast".

Dib chuckled a bit at this, imaging Zim tugging his antennae down in frustration over his robots caring more about dancing rhythm games than helping him conquer the world. But Zim's next section was what made him so surprised. Zim had sworn to go to Bloaty's and burn the whole thing down to the ground. "THAT will show them!"

Zim had clearly never gone through with it. And Dib had a sneaking, disturbing suspicion he knew what had befallen Zim. Most likely the same very fate that had befallen his own servants.

_"…__I gotta get Gaz out of there."_ Dib whispered.


	4. The Second Shift, Part 2

Gaz slowly peeked out of the closet, glancing back and forth before inching along the dark hallway. Her eyes were peering around, looking closely for any sign of animatronics that were trying to sneak up on her, her ears trying to pick up any kind of sound whatsoever. She moved slowly and deliberately, trying not to make too much noise. Those animatronics were fast, after all, and she didn't want to take any chances. After passing by the bathroom, she took notice of the prize corner off in the distance, not too far from the arcade.

There was another ghost child there, sitting on the countertop, head hung, slowly sweeping it back and forth. It was humming a bit, none of the other animatronics nearby as Gaz slightly inched closer to get a better look at what it was holding in its hands. It was, oddly enough, a key. It turned it over in its hands, Gaz blinking at the odd design it had on the end: a gigantic circle with an x through it. Odd. What could it be to?

The ghost slowly vanished a few moments later, the key being put on the countertop, Gaz glancing left and right before slinking along the floor, crouched low as she snagged the key and then hid behind the counter as she heard that familiar, ugly sound of THRAHK THRAHK THRAHK coming close. She cringed, keeping her baseball bat close, Bloaty's ugly voice echoing through the pizzeria.

**"Heya kiddos! Bein' a Bloaty's is soooo much fun! You're gonna love it here! I GUARANTEE IT."**

Those last words sent a shiver down Gaz's spine as she bit her lip, waiting as Bloaty lumbered through the arcade, slightly bumping into one of the machines with a faint CHA-CHUNK before he seemed to stop. And indeed, though Gaz couldn't see him, she knew. She knew he was looking in the direction of the prize corner countertop. She squished herself as tightly into the currently-empty prize corner as she could, hearing horrific, musky, heavy breathing as Bloaty peered over the countertop, placing gigantic hands down with a thud as he looked about.

Gaz held her breath. The seconds seemed to tick by for hours before, at last, he grunted, getting up and heading away. **"Always a good time at Bloaty's kiddies! Come and let Bloaty give you a big hug!"**

Gaz waited, taking in a deep breath before making sure he was really gone. She wiped her brow, peeking over the top of the prize counter countertop before looking down at the key, pocketing it before inching towards the kitchen. If she could clear out some of the cupboards in there, she could probably hide there for a while before her shift was over. But she cringed at the cheery, ugly-looking little boy animatronic that was walking down the hall near the kitchen. Luckily she had an idea, slinking behind one of the arcade machines before reaching into her pocket and pulling out her wallet. She tossed it at the nearest machine, making it whack off arcade. "OW!" She loudly yelled out, the boy animatronic's attention gotten as she waited for him to race towards the machine she'd thrown the wallet at. She saw him waddle towards it excitedly, laughing in a high-pitched, mocking tone.

She carefully crept away towards the kitchen, making her way inside, seeing one of the cupboards WAS open at the top, and only had a few pots in it. She snuck onto the countertop, glancing back briefly and listening. Yep. That idiot was still by the arcade machines from the sound of it. Breathing a sigh of relief, Gaz took the pots out, then crawled into the enormous cupboard, closing it behind her and waiting, suddenly hearing a familiar vibrating sound, quickly getting out her phone. She was glad she had muted the sound on it as she looked down at the screen, quickly changing the brightness setting, only her breathing echoing through the cupboard.

"On my way, you HAVE to get out of there." A text from Dib seemed fervent and terrified. She knew the feeling, giving a sad sigh before exiting the screen. She froze up though at the sound of something moving through the kitchen, humming.

"**_Throw her to the hungry rats for dinner, throw her to the hungry rats for dinner, throw her to the hungry rats for dinner ear-ly-in-the-moooorning!_**

The Hunter. She zipped the lip, not saying anything as she kept hearing him move through the kitchen, singing that song. But every single verse got progressively more louder as he got closer. She didn't say anything, the Hunter just continuing to sing before a familiar laugh filled the air.

"Ah-hahaha!"

"Ah, hello there, BB. How are yeh?" The Hunter asked, turning away, inches from her own cupboard as Gaz held her breath, not saying a word.

"I thought she was by the arcade machines, but the night guard's not there. Got her wallet though!" He laughed, holding the wallet up. "Bet she might feel like coming out if we threaten to set fire to all these nice dollar bills inside."

Gaz would have been mad, but it was a matter of "confront these idiots now and probably die over fifty odd dollars" versus "stay in relative safety". Not really much of a contest. She stayed quiet and still, the Hunter evidently walking off with Bloaty Boy or whoever it was that it called itself and waited for a few more minutes, biting her lip. Then, at last, she tried to push the cupboard open.

It wouldn't go. She blinked, trying to push it again. It wouldn't push outward, why in the-

"Ah-hahaha!"

"Oh no." She grunted.

"Gotcha! Hiding in a cupboard? Your ideas are so lame."

Gaz inwardly cringed, but tried not to show fear. "Ha, ha. You're a laugh riot. Now lemme out."

"Oh, I will! Right after I get Hunter. I'm sure he'd love sticking his sword into you again and again and seein' all the nice blood that's gonna pool out of you from every hole in the cupboard!" BB remarked with an overly cheery, chipper tone.

Gaz kicked at the cupboard door, growling darkly. "Let me out!"

"Nah, I don't think so." BB said with a snicker, making his way back out of the kitchen as Gaz kicked at the cupboard door with renewed force. Damn it, she didn't have time for this! She had to get out of here. She bashed her head against the door in an attempt to get free, slamming her shoulder into the cupboard door, but none of it worked. And then she heard the Hunter's chuckling.

"Well, well, well. Look what I've caught here. Ain't this a lovely little sight. You're completely helpless, ain'tcha lass?"

"Oh yeah? If I was out of this cupboard, I'd shove your sword so far up your own ass your breath would smell like steel!" Gaz snarled, trying to be brave. The familiar fury was filling her. That sense of rage, anger and entitlement that allowed her darkest, deepest secrets to boil forth. If she just had enough space to get out and get a good shot!

"That's cute." The Hunter wisecracked. "You, thinking you stand any chance against me."

"My brother's going to be here any minute. Once Dib's here, he'll stop you for sure, he's all about that kind of paranormal-"

The Hunter audibly drew in a harsh breath, Gaz blinking in surprise at this as BB let out an "Ooooh". "…did you say…Dib?" He asked. "…the Dib-Stink!?"

Gaz stiffened in the cupboard. No. No, it couldn't be. But then a loud honking noise filled the air and an unmistakable chuckle came from the Hunter's mouth. "I'll be right with you, _Little Gaz_. But I've an engagement to take care of."

"Ooh, Mary's come to save his widdle wamb!" BB remarked cheerily, clapping his hands together as he and the Hunter slunk out of the kitchen, Gaz banging on the cupboard.

"DAMN IT! No, no, no!" She quickly reached down for her phone, beginning to type a text into it as Dib opened the car door and slunk along to the back of the place, looking up at a vent which was juuuust big enough for him to crawl in. He got atop the dumpster it was underneath, unscrewing the screws that held it in with his handy-dandy pocket screwdriver before climbing inside. He shuffled through the vents, a faint jingle ringing through the air.

**_She blinded me with science!  
She blinded me! With SCIENCE!_**

Dib picked it out of his jacket, looking it over, eyes narrowing. "They know you're here".

SHA-SHING! A sword shot through the vent inches from where his face was, his eyes bugging out, mouth hanging slightly open before quickly shimmying further down the vent, the sword getting yanked out, then shot back up into the vent again, barely missing him before Dib finally saw the exit in the distance: the kitchen! He was just about to slip out when this time, the sword hit him.

In the eye.

"GAAAAAH!" He screeched, reeling as he flopped on his side, howling, dropping his phone, clutching at his wounded eye. **"Jesus Christ!"** He screamed out, hearing horrific, mocking laughter as a sinister chuckle lingered in the air.

"Well, well, well. After all these years I finally get to do what I always wanted. Kill Dib."

But Dib was not going to give him the satisfaction. Though his eyeball was cut into, his skull feeling as though it was on fire, all Dib could think of right now was Gaz. He launched himself through the vent, the sword missing him once again as he flopped onto the kitchen floor, looking up and seeing the blocked cupboard door. Ripping the spatula that was holding the cupboard shut out, Gaz crawled out as she saw his bloodied-up eye, taking off Dib's jacket and ripping off an arm so he could wrap it around his head, the Hunter and BB appearing in the doorway.

This time Gaz was ready. She was positively pissed. No more fancy plans. No more hiding about. This time she was going to tap into the very worst parts of her. Her body seemed to be enveloped in a deep purplish/red miasma of dark power, her eyes glowing like fire coals as she rose up in the air, clenching her fists so tightly that she almost cut into her palms. And with a hateful, furious growl, she shot her arms forward, the foul miasma shooting forward as she called upon her dark powers and they slammed into the Hunter's head. The hat went flying, the Hunter reeling back, panting and growling as BB gasped, Dib's remaining eye widening as he held his hands over his mouth.

The Hunter's true face was now revealed. And it was Zim's, his face stretched across the skeletal frame of the Hunter's skull. The Hunter's eyes were piercing and cold, mockingly staring back at them as he rose up to full height, laughing slightly with piercing, sharp fangs as he touched his own face with a clawed glove. "What? Don't you like what you see, my bonnie lass? You used to have a thing for this face. And he for you, in his own, lovely little way. And I'm gonna share my love in MY own special way." He remarked, holding his sword up, licking the blood from Dib off of it.

"That should have blown your head off!" Gaz snarled.

"Do you really believe your dark magic is going to effect something like US? What do you think gives us life? Fairy dust?" He snorted.

So Dib did the only thing he could think of, grabbing hold of the nearby table and flipping it as hard as he could. And amazingly, it worked. The table soared at the Hunter, knocking him down as BB began laughing at this, Gaz and Dib bolting for the front door, Gaz taking Dib's hand as he flinched with every step…

But then Gaz remembered. The door was closed. Locked up. She tore at the chains, growling angrily before see and Dib stiffened, hearing that horrible, hateful sound…

THRAHK THRAHK THRAHK.

The two of them turned around, Bloaty now standing there, in all his full, ugly glory. Blood was slowly pooling out from his enormous animatronic suit, eyes gazing out, eyes far too human yet bloodshot as he lumbered closer, closer. Dib drew in a harsh breath, seeing the open rips and tears in the costume, as Gaz realized why Bloaty had smelled so horrible to her, for within the suit she could see. She could see a grasping hand, the unmistakable sight of human ribs, flesh torn and stretched, mouths open and screaming. This unspeakable horror was like a gigantic walking body bag, it's two mouths opening up, the outward suit and inner robotic frame laughing in an unnatural, unsynchronized fashion as he came even closer to them.

**"AlWayS a GoOd TiMe At BlOaTy'S! LeT oL bLoAtY gIvE yOu A hUg!"**

Hands reaching…inches from their face, God, God he smelled like rotting pepperoni-

And then, salvation. 6 AM and the chimes of the clock rang out, Bloaty's hands fading mere millimeters from their skulls along with the rest of his body as Dib slowly blinked his remaining eye before turning back to look at Gaz.

"…your job sucks." He mumbled. "…and I'm gonna just lie down now."

And with that, he collapsed.


	5. The Third Shift, Part 1

It was not long before Gaz and Dib were back at home, Dib quickly typing away into his computer, bandages over his left eye as Gaz bit her lip slightly. It was still somewhat unusual for her to be feeling like this, but she couldn't help it, she was worried about her brother.

"You really should be in the hospital." She mumbled.

"We've got plenty of things in the lab I can use to help myself. I'm not the one stuck in a haunted diner every night for five nights. You need a way to protect yourself, and I've found some things in the Swollen Eyeball Database that have been proven effective." He reasoned, pointing at the screen before giving her a small, sad smile. "Besides. Now I get to put in that robo-eyepatch I always wanted." He admitted, patting a small package near the keyboard.

Gaz carefully lifted one of her hands up and then patted his shoulder in a hesitant fashion. She'd not really ever hugged her brother, but Dib didn't mind. This was the best she could, he didn't mind. He knew she cared in her own way. He clicked the mouse, a new tab opening up as he displayed the data he'd collected.

"These things are clearly possessed by a demonic force, and I'm guessing it's Bloaty's former mascot. The guy who suffocated that kid by accident is probably still walking around in the suit, and he's become something more than what he was. I'm guessing he must blame children for what happened to him, so he kept killing any he could find."

"He probably recognized me too." Gaz thought with a worried murmur. "I went to Bloaty's constantly. His tone was so mocking, like…" She cringed. "That fat fuck has to pay."

"Let's work on keeping you safe first, I'll work on trying to find an exorcism spell we can do. The Church charges a small fee for doing it, but that's not the problem, the problem is I don't want to involve anybody else in this, we'd probably get them killed, and I don't even think they'd believe us." He added with a sad sigh. "I mean, what're we going to say to them? The Bloaty's Pizza is haunted by the spirit of it's ex-mascot and it's got animatronics wearing the face of my rival working for it? It'd be funny if it wasn't so twisted."

"Could we do the exorcism ourselves, then?" Gaz asked.

"We need a way to get Bloaty himself vulnerable. He's the one controlling all of them from what you told me about…about what happened to Nick." Dib said with a cringe, Gaz biting her lip. "He's like a head vampire. We kill him, the other vampires are through. But while I work on some kind of spell or ritual for that, you can protect yourself with these."

He brought up another tab on the internet browser "Godzilla Fireblast" and it displayed several ornately-woven, slightly glowing runes written in what appeared to be Latin. Scrolling down further, Gaz noticed several materials were highlighted, including bags of salt. "Salt?" She asked.

"Salt is very useful. It keeps demons and spirits at bay. Normal people can cross over, but anything supernatural can't." Dib told her, a sense of delight entering his voice. "It's so fascinating, really. It's a symbol of purification and holy power, why, in the story of Lot-"

"I get it, really." Gaz insisted, whacking Dib over the arm. "And I'm not that far gone so I can use it without getting hurt myself. I mean, I've put salt on my food before and never got burned or anything."

"Right. But listen, just in case that doesn't work, use the runic spells." Dib said, printing them out from his nearby printer, a KRRRCH-KRRCCH sound filling the air as the sheet slid out. "Find a defensible position in the diner which you could still escape from if things went south, and paint the runes using my glow in the dark paint. That way it won't be visible during the day, but you can have a lamp up at night and it'll keep those psycho-matronics at bay."

"Yeah, wouldn't want to be fired for painting all over the place." Gaz said with a snort. "That'd be so lame. Surviving killer animatronics just to get fired over property damage."

"We can do all the property damage we want after this is over." Dib promised.

"After this is over, I don't think I'll ever want to see another Bloaty's **ever. AGAIN.**"

...

...

...

...Gaz glanced about, taking in a deep breath before pouring the bag of salt's contents out onto the floor of the office door. She'd placed the lamp and positioned it so its light would fall upon just the right place, and she had the vent slightly unscrewed with salt on the inside just in case anything else tried to make its way through there. Specifically, that little Bitch Boy animatronic, or perhaps the possessed GIR. She sat back down at the office chair, bringing up the laptop she'd brought and quickly typing away.

Ping! The cameras in the restaurant were now hers to look at. She smirked a bit, for once feeling in control as one o'clock rolled around and she flipped through the camera feeds. The good thing was she could look at multiple angles at once with this program, and-

She saw somebody standing outside the office and blinked. Several ghost children all staring at her. Gaz raised an eyebrow, then spoke. "Um…Bloaty killed you guys, right?"

They all quietly nodded.

"Look, I'm trying to figure out a way to kill him. You want that bad, right?"

They all nodded quite vigorously.

"Well my brother and I are working on an exorcism spell to send him to Hell where he belongs. Then you guys will be free. So maybe you could help me avoid the other animatronics?"

"We'll…we want to try." One of them said, its voice quiet and ethereal, a faint echo lingering in the air as it rubbed the back of its neck, its eyes black and mournful as it spoke. "It's very hard. Bloaty's so mean, he won't really let us do much. But we'll try. Honest, we will."

"Thanks."

"Louie."

"What?"

"My name was Louie." It said, before it and the others slowly vanished away, Gaz blinking a few times before chuckling a bit.

**_"Louie, Louie, you gotta go now. Louie, Louie, you gotta go now-"_**

"You're an awful singer." Gaz looked up. It was that damn BB. He was sitting in the door way, frowning at her. "And your ideas are stupid."

"I'll bet you're wishing you could come in and kill me so you could come dance on my grave." She told him with a smirk.

"Nah." BB said with a sudden, awful smirk that made Gaz frown. "See, Nick made a promise to himself after all those awful days at Gym, that when he got out of school, he'd never stand in another line again."

Gaz frowned at this. "Get lost."

"Wow, did the kids hate you. I mean, they may not have liked your brother, but you were a total cunt!" BB said with a mocking laugh. "At least Dib actually cared about other people and wanted to help them. You only cared about Nick because you saw your mom in him. Tourette's is an awful thing to have, isn't it?"

"You can shut up now." Gaz muttered coldly.

"You wanna hear his scream when he got forcibly shoved into GIR? It was so funny, all the blood was splurting out like-"

Gaz launched the stapler from the desk through the air and it whacked BB straight in the head, colliding with a satisfying, metallic ring that imitated a coconut hitting the floor. BB frowned at this, and tried to walk into the office door, then flinched. He couldn't cross the salt, his voice visibly pained. "S-Stupid…dummy." He said, leaving the office as Gaz snorted, going back to the laptop screen.

Bloaty was looking around by the arcade machines, slowly turning his head back and forth before BB walked over to him and began to speak. He blinked, then carefully turned his head, looking right into the camera feed and grinning darkly. His head tilted left, then right, and then he began making his way out of the view, Gaz bracing herself behind the desk as she heard that familiar, ugly sound coming her way.

THRAHK THRAHK THRAHK.

There he was. All three hundred something pounds of ugly staring at her, mockingly grinning. "Heya Gazzy! Is it your birthday today? I've got a present for you! Come and give Ol' Bloaty a nice, big, hug."

"No."

"Please?"

"NO."

"Pretty please?"

"**NO.**"

"Pretty please with sugar on top?"

"Pretty please with a baseball bat upside your head!" She said, holding up the bat she'd brought, giving it a thoughtful swing and pointing it at Bloaty.

"You know, your head is gonna make the most delightful sound when it's stuffed into the animatronic suit I've got prepared for you." Bloaty said, clasping his hands together. "It's like a watermelon popping in a microwave. You wouldn't think a watermelon could pop in a microwave, but that's just what it sounds like!"

"You are a depraved, fucking insane sociopath, and I look forward to the day I can send you to Hell to get cornholed in the eye by pinapple-dick demons from now until the end of time." Gaz promised.

"Now THAT is some awful, awful language. I'm going to have to wash your mouth out with soap." Bloaty said, a faint, dark edge coming to his tone as he growled darkly. "I'll be back, young lady. I assure you." He whispered, slowly backing up, vanishing bit by bit into the darkness as Gaz stuck her tongue out defiantly at him, giving him a raspberry before turning back to the cameras.

The Hunter, the one who'd taken Zim, he was humming to himself. She frowned darkly, something was odd, what was he doing in the kitch-

Oh no. Suddenly she realized something. Realized why she kept seeing these things. She was witnessing the murders of each child who'd died in the diner. One had been cooked, another crushed, and now-

Another child struggling to break free, mouth gagged, tied to the table, the Hunter looking over various knives as he sang, head bouncing back and forth. "You try so hard to make it through, but now this is the end for you, for I'm afraid your life is through. It's no good trying to act brave, because you're going to your grave." He sang out, pulling out a carving knife.

Gaz wanted to look away. She really did. It was like bypass surgery done on someone who didn't need it, skin being peeled back, flesh being pulled to the side as fat was carved out, the child screaming in agony. "Make it stop! PLEASE!"

Louie's voice. She cringed. Was that how he'd died? And then the sight of Bloaty entering the room.

"Well, we'd better end it, then." He remarked, the Hunter nodding as he took hold of his sword, putting it to Louie's neck, beginning to saw-

Gaz shut the laptop screen and covered her face. This was disgusting. This was vile. She had beaten people up before. But at least they'd deserved it in her eyes. Bloaty just seemed to be targeting kids at random. She took in deep breaths to calm herself before finally flipping the laptop screen back up…or at least, she was going to before she heard a knock on the inside of the vent.

"And who might you be?"

"Little pig, little pig, let me in!"

"Minimoose, give me a break."

"…I'm…not Minimoose. I'm Lil' Bloaty!"

"You're Minimoose. You quote Shakespeare and Lewis. You're a distinguished orator and incredibly funny. And you fit easily into an overhead storage bin." Gaz remarked. "You need to fight back against Bloaty's control. Stop being his bitch!"

The vent banged about a bit. **"Stop calling me that!"** "Lil' Bloaty" roared out, the floating big's voice a dark, foul snarl. "You don't understand anything. How could you? You're a stupid, spoiled, idiotic child who doesn't understand how the real world works! Everything was always given to you! Time and time again you whined and complained when you were here at Bloaty's if you didn't get your way."

Gaz frowned. Evidently a piece of Bloaty must have been put into all of them. Or perhaps they all shared his memories? And perhaps the memories of all the victims as well?

"You had everything, we had to work for it! Work for everything! And what did we have to show for it? Murdered! You got off easy! And now you've got it hard! Too! Fucking! BAD!"

Gaz growled, turning away from the vent. These things were trying to make her angry and get inside her head. She wasn't going to give them the satisfaction. "Get out of here, "Lil' Bloaty". You are not getting in, whether you like that or not."

"Oh, we'll get inside." Lil' Bloaty whispered darkly. "And then we'll get inside you. I'll tunnel through you like a worm, and munch-munch-munch up all your intestines. I'll slurp your blood vessels up like spaghetti. I'll have the Hunter wear your eyeballs like **earrings!**"

"How nice that you're all so deeply into recycling." Gaz said.

Another loud bang, and then Minimoose's stolen body seemed to float away, Gaz wiping her brow.

Three AM. Her shift was halfway over. And so far…so good.


	6. The Third Shift, Part 2

It was now 3:30 and Gaz was still sitting at the desk, feeling pretty confident. They'd been unable to get past the salt ring and by now she was becoming slightly confident. She held up the flashlight she'd brought with her to her mouth, humming a bit before beginning to sing mockingly in front of a glowering Hunter animatronic as GIR stood next to him, head slowly lilting back and forth.

"Don't speak! I know what you're thinking! And I don't need your reasons! Don't tell me cuz it huuurts!"

"Your voice is stupid. It fills me with indescribable rage." The Hunter mumbled darkly. GIR began to twitch. "We'll figure out a way past this salt ring. I promise you that."

"Oh, really?" Gaz said, giving him a big, shit-eating grin as she stuck her tongue out. "I don't think so. You could throw your sword, but then you'd just lose it, because I'd dodge it." She informed him with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Too bad you don't have an infinite number of daggers like the real Vampire Piggy Hunter has in the video games. But what else can you expect from a down-on-its-luck pizza joint animatronic?"

The Hunter's eyes were cold before a dark, sick look came up on his face. "GIR…go get the knives from the kitchen. All of them." He remarked. "If I can't hit her, I can at least make sure she can't monitor us anymore."

Oh. Shit. Gaz's eyes went wide. There were dozens of knives in the kitchen. He was going to try to hurt her any way he could. GIR saluted, waltzing off as Gaz glared back at the Hunter's face as he held up his sword. "And perhaps I'll start us off early! DODGE THIS!" He roared out. He didn't care if he hit her. He just wanted to try. Hours of being unable to scare her into submission had made him lose patience.

Gaz braced herself. He launched the sword through the air, Gaz twisting her body, snatching the blade by the hilt, swinging it about before bringing it down onto the floor, grinning triumphantly. She felt good. Real, real good. The Hunter's shocked expression on his face was just the icing on the cake. That stunned, stupefied look, as if he didn't believe it could be possible. But she'd done it. She'd grabbed his sword out of midair.

But now GIR had arrived with a bunch of knives, some of them clattering onto the floor with a KLAKKA-KLAK sound as the Hunter smirked. Gaz took up a position in front of the computer, holding the sword up like a baseball bat, gritting her teeth as the Hunter held up a large carving knife. "Prepare to become a blind little mouse, Little Gaaaaaz…" The Hunter whispered, launching it through the air. It sang as it soared, Gaz swinging the Hunter's blade. With a harsh KLANG, she knocked the carving knife into the wall, the Hunter tossing another knife at her as she swung again.

Left and right, up and down, she swung and swung the sword, and each swing seemed heavier and heavier as she struggled to keep up with the animatronics near-insane speed. His robotic body gave him a distinct edge, and he was not letting up. One knife went over her arm and she winched as it sliced through part of her uniform and arm, trying not to give him the satisfaction of letting out a cry before he launched another one. It struck her shoulder and she let out a gasp, reeling back, slamming slightly into the desk.

The Hunter's smile was sick. It was like something that had crawled out from under a rock as he launched another knife at her, but Gaz ducked, the blade stabbing itself into the wall across from her as he growled, GIR continually handing the Hunter more knives. He raised his arm to launch one off-

But then familiar spectral forms surrounded him, and the ghost children began leaping all over him, banging their little fists on his head, tugging at his arms, yanking GIR away, one using a butcher knife to slash at the Hunter's stomach, Gaz's eyes widening at the display. "Torque Smacky?!" She gasped out, seeing one of the ghosts as its face solidified into something more recognizable, Torque trying to saw through the Hunter's stomach with the butcher knife.

"I TOLD you guys Bloaty killed those kids! Bet you wish you'd listened to me now!" His ghostly form muttered, Zim's voice rising out of the Hunter.

"**Stupid stink beasts!** You're dead! Accept it! You're not getting out of here!" He snarled, trying to shove and kick and punch them back, the clock now reading 4:30 before GIR suddenly jumped on Zim's head, the other ghost kids stepping back as GIR whacked the Hunter again and again. "What are?!"

"Stop hurting Gazzy!" GIR's voice rang out, intermixed with Nicholas as he tried chewing on the Hunter's head. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

Somehow the ghosts had awakened GIR and Nicholas's spirit, Gaz realized as the Hunter reeled back, Gaz wiping her brow as they vanished into the darkness. Phew. Thank goodness for small mercies.

And then the vent began to bang and she suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of "Lil' Bloaty" chuckling as she whipped her head in his direction, the Vampire Piggy floating in midair as Minimoose's stolen body quivered with disturbing delight. "Heheheheheehehehehe! I have you all to myself."

Oh crap.

Gaz ducked, avoiding his swipe, little fangs popping out as he propelled himself at her, hooves sharp like razors as he twisted in midair. He shot back at her as she sliced at him, but he swerved out of the way, Gaz holding the sword up, gritting her teeth. That shoulder wound was jabbing into her like the hot knife wound it was, it felt like liquid fire stabbed into her and it was making it hard for her to hold the sword with both hands.

Then "Lil Bloaty" did slam into her, knocking her into the wall, making her gasp in pain as he snickered darkly. "I'll kill you!" He cried out, launching at her head. She ducked, crawling away, bounding back up just in time to knock him back with the blunt end of the sword. He struck the wall and bounced off it before glowering at her and diving at her anew, Gaz barely diving away as his fangs just barely missed her neck.

She needed to knock him back into the vent. She held the sword up, gritting her teeth, eyes narrowing. It had to be timed juuuuuuust right. If she didn't get it right-

He dove, and she swung. And it connected beautifully, knocking him right into the vent, making him bang about as he was sent flying back through it, Gaz quickly dropping the sword and grabbing hold of the vent cover as she slammed it back in. She took out the screwdriver she'd brought, snatching up the nails from the floor and began screwing the vent cover back on as she heard Minimoose making his way back towards her.

"You're not keeping me out that easily!" He hissed out.

"How'd you even get past the salt?"

Minimoose giggled a bit. "This body comes with a fan. Its old master had it installed to cool him off on hot summer days. In fact, now that I think of it…"

Gaz stiffened. Oh. Shit.

"Why waste time with this when I can just have Bloaty use me to get rid of that pesky salt in front of the door? I'll be seeing you reeeeaaal soon, Gazlene. Real soon." The Vampire Piggy hauntingly chuckled, Gaz quickly screwing the vent back in before heading back to the desk, looking at the cameras, bracing herself for the inevitable appearance of Bloaty.

Meanwhile, Dib was in Zim's house, flashlight held up as he waltzed through the old home of his former rival. If Zim wasn't around, there was probably some technology left that Dib could use to help his sister. Some kind of laser, some kind of defensive shield, anything at all. But Zim's house was an even bigger mess than he'd thought.

Cobwebs were in every single corner, every single light fixture almost swarming with spiders as dust motes floated about through the air like fairies. The television screen was playing endless static, the colors of the wallpaper faded and gone, the carpets half-eaten up by moths as they fluttered up past Dib's face. His eye was still covered up with bandages for the moment and he winced as he turned his flashlight towards the secret elevator that led down to Zim's lab.

But before he could go in, he noticed the basement door was open, and a large sign read "KEEP OUT: Especially YOU, GIR" over it. He raised an eyebrow up in confusion as he approached it, pushing the door open, some moths fluttering past him as he slowly made his way down the steps, the musky air harsh and foul as he waved his hand in front of his face. Ugh, it stank down here. He kept moving forward into the dark expanse, his flashlight the only light in the dark pit that was Zim's basement as it passed over what appeared to be an immense experimentation lab. There were…_things_ floating in tanks. Things too disgusting and ugly to stare at for too long as Dib walked past them as quickly as he could, a large console connecting them all and-

What the? It couldn't be. But there he was. Skoodge the Irken was sitting in a chair at the far end. But he looked even more pathetic than usual. His skin was stretched over bone, his eyes almost utterly sunken, teeth looking like they hadn't been cleaned in ages as flies wafted around him. A single Luna moth fluttered about, landing on his head as he slowly, agonizingly turned, as if he was made of stone and every inch he moved was painful to pull off.

"What happened to you?" Dib asked.

"…I couldn't help him." Skoodge murmured. "…they were just…gone."

Dib's eyes went wide. Wait. Could it be?

"You…saw what happened to Zim and GIR and Minimoose?"

"We went to Bloaty's. It was just supposed to be…just a simple thing. Just burn it down. But it all went wrong. And I failed. I couldn't help." Skoodge shook his head back and forth. "I can't do anything right. I messed up even being an exile."

Dib looked with pity on the former Invader, approaching him. "Look, we're trying to kill Bloaty."

"You CAN'T!" Skoodge screamed out. "You don't think I didn't try?!" He roared out, his eyes becoming wild and furious. "I…I tried…"

_It was supposed to be simple. Get in and burn the place down. Then GIR would stop asking to go there to play with Gaz, and it would annoy Gaz to no end. Better still, Skoodge had had the idea of framing Dib for it: they'd leave behind a pair of Dib's glasses they'd stolen as well as fingerprints on a gas can they were bringing._

_As they slunk through the hallways though, something was off. A cold chill filled the air as Skoodge shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself, dropping the gas can momentarily as Zim stared back at him, raising an invisible eyebrow up. "What?"_

_"Is it me, or did it just get colder in here?" He asked of the shorter Irken, Zim frowning a bit._

_"So it's slightly chillier. That means nothing to Zim!" Zim proclaimed, pointing upwards as Skoodge picked up the gas can-_

_Or rather, reached to do so but was stopped when he saw a spectral, ghastly grey ghost looking back at him. He reeled back, gasping as Zim blinked in surprise, the ghost looking them over._

_"You should go." It said._

_"Wait. I know you. The stuttering boy." Zim said, eyes narrowed. "Begone from Zim's sight. We have business here! Yes, VERY important business."_

_"He'll come for you."_

_"Who's he-"_

_THRAHK THRAHK THRAHK._

_The air was now far, far colder. They shuddered, glancing about as horrific laughter filled the air and Skoodge looked left and right, Zim glaring angrily at the ghost. "What is going on?! Stop this right now!" He demanded, trying to punch the ghost in the face, his fist harmlessly flying through it over and over again, not realizing the form that was approaching from behind the ghost as Skoodge stared in horror, holding up a pointing claw._

_"Zim?"_

_"Not now, I've almost got him!"_

_"Zim?!"_

_"Hold on, I'm-"_

_"ZIM!"_

_Zim finally looked up, and gaped at the sight before him as blood began to pool out of Bloaty's mouth as he grinned horrifically down at them. Zim let out a yelp, racing off with Skoodge as they made for the front door they'd come into, but the chain locks, which they'd taken off, had somehow been put right back on. Zim growled darkly, his PAK legs extending-_

_Only for one of them to be grabbed, and he was tossed through the air, slamming against the wall as Skoodge raced for the nearest chair, launching it through the air at Bloaty, the chair just bouncing off the layers of flat. Skoodge cringed as he then grabbed hold of a ketchup bottle, smashing it open like it was a bottle of beer and attacking the flabby thing as it reached to pick Zim off the floor. He tore at Bloaty, causing a tear to strip off, Bloaty letting out a surprisingly agonized howl, and Skoodge gaped in horror as intestines began to pour out…_

_From the upper body of a child that flopped slightly onto the floor, eyes staring uselessly up at Skoodge, lips slightly open as its lower body remained trapped within Bloaty._

_Skoodge gaped. He had seen many awful things throughout his life. But he'd never seen something like this so close. Yes, he'd done pretty cruel things to the slaughtering rat people on Blorch, but this was a child, not a rat, and it was staring up at him, a fly landing on an eye that could never again see-_

_Bloaty backhanded him back, but with clearly far less strength than Zim had endured. Skoodge grunted a bit as he rose up, seeing Zim was now held up in the air, Bloaty reaching for his face. His fingers dug in, Zim's feet uselessly flailing about, PAK legs broken by the impact against the wall as a crunching sound began to echo through the air and-_

_And then both Zim and Bloaty were gone…and Skoodge was left alone with shadows and dust._

Dib blinked slowly, Skoodge bowing his head, his story finished. "I'm sorry." He finally got out. He'd never really had anything personal against Skoodge, the fat Irken had been more agreeable and civil than Zim had ever been, and now he seemed so…listless.

"I, GIR and Minimoose went there the next night. But when we heard Zim's voice, we thought-well…" He trailed off.

"It was the Hunter, wasn't it?" Dib wanted to know, raising an eyebrow up as Skoodge quietly nodded. "It tricked you into getting into a room with Bloaty?"

"Yes. They always trap you and then when Bloaty's there, then…" Skoodge trailed off once again.

Dib put a hand on the Irken's soldier. "Skoodge, listen. You've helped me more than you think." He told the former Invader. Because Dib now had an idea on how to stop Bloaty.

…

…

…

…Gaz braced herself behind the desk, hand at the ready near the lamp as she heard the familiar sound of Bloaty approaching as Minimoose's stolen body floated near the tubbish, hateful being as it gazed out at her. "Why hello, lil' Gazzy! Come give your ol' pal Bloaty a hug! You love Bloaty!"

"I did. And then you started murdering kids. I like you much less now." She said darkly.

Bloaty looked down at Minimoose as "Lil' Bloaty's" mouth opened up and a fan began to pop out, blowing at the collected salt that was in the doorway. "You shouldn't be so rude to Bloaty, Gaz. Bloaty only wants to give you a great. Big. HUG. And put you in a nice, warm suit. After all, it gets so cold here at night."

"I'll manage." She grunted. It was now 5 AM. She just had to last another hour. Keep talking, asshole, she thought to herself. Keep talking. Minimoose was about halfway done, which was problematic, but she could handle this.

A ring on her phone. She looked down at it. A text from Dib and her eyes widened a bit as she looked it over, then read it aloud. "Minimoose, Skoodge misses you and GIR and Zim."

Lil' Bloaty stopped, his stolen body quivering slightly. "Sk-Skoodge?" It said, its voice now more of a squeak. "…nyah?"

"He blames himself for what happened to you." Gaz went on, looking at the phone as Minimoose's possessed form began to quiver and shake. "Come home."

"…N…nyah…" Minimoose began to murmur, but suddenly its eyes glowed as Bloaty gave it a quick, dark glare, and it shook back and forth. "Y-You stop that! My name is Lil' Bloaty!" It snapped at her, resuming it's blowing, the fan popping back out as Gaz sighed slightly, hand reaching for the lamp.

Flick! On it went, as Bloaty's triumphant smirk at seeing the salt blow away faded, the runes popping up underneath the light's rays. He cringed, reeling back along with "Lil' Bloaty" as the runes glowed with a faint, otherworldly light and Gaz smirked a bit, arms folding across her chest. "You didn't think I'd bring another way to keep you the hell away from me? You're seriously dumb."

She then looked down at the rest of the text. "Bloaty's power comes from suit. Need to cut open somehow."

It was now 5:30. Bloaty gave her a dark glare, grinding his animatronic teeth together. "I will figure something out, Gazlene. Just. You.**Wait.**" He promised coldly, stomping off as Lil' Bloaty floated after him, Gaz looking down at the sword the Hunter had left behind, along with the many, many knives. So. Cut Bloaty open, huh? There was no way she'd be able to get close enough to do that just attacking him outright. She'd have to plan this out. Be cautious. Prepare a trap that the kid from "Home Alone" would have been jealous of.

She knew how to beat him now.

And for once, she was feeling a real sense of hope about her job. For once, she was ending the night feeling confident and happy and smug. Feeling almost like, well…herself.

And then she saw the ghost children in the hallway as they stared at her, Nick's ghost waving softly before fading away, and she sighed. This wasn't the time to be feeling cocky. She had miles to go before she slept. This wasn't over until Bloaty was put down like the animal he was and those kids were freed.

Bloaty and his animatronics had been giving her hell for three nights straight. Tomorrow night, she was going to give them a taste of their own medicine. And they'd be downing it. With a spoon full of salt.


	7. The Fourth Shift, Part 1

Dib and Gaz bent over the printed out display of the Bloaty's restaurant, the pizzeria's schematics laid out for both of them to see as Dib put a finger down, giving Gaz a firm look. "Right there is where they keep coming in. The office is where you're safest but you need to keep Minimoose from getting in and blowing the salt away. So in order to do that, we'll have to find a way to incapacitate him and keep him away from you."

"How are we going to do that?" Gaz asked. "I can't bring a shotgun in. I can't shoot up the place, I'd be fired."

"What you need to do is get a taser. Bring this in." Dib said, handing a small, black-painted taser to her. "You're good with guns. It's the same basic principle, and it'll send an electrical shock through him. You'll be able to keep him away from you, it's good for at least five powerful shocks, I've upped the wattage and the volume of how it courses through the taser to make sure it can pierce even him." Her now-cycloptic brother informed her with a firm nod, Gaz pocketing the taser. "That'll keep him back for a time and the runes and salt will keep the others back."

"The vent. We need to trap the vent. I didn't figure out he was in there until he was practically right up in my face." Gaz insisted as she pointed at the vents on the schematics of Bloaty's Pizza Hog, Dib nodding in agreement.

"Your gummies might not be able to handle the bigger targets like the Hunter, but I'll wager they can keep that little Bloaty bastard at bay." Dib reasoned, wagging a finger in the air. "You can finally put them to use properly and worry a bit less about them getting tore apart in just a few minutes."

"And then, of course, there's Bloaty." Gaz said. "I'm going to get all the knives I can and cut him open-no, no, it has to be from further away." She mumbled. "...wires. Invisible wires." She put her finger down on one point after another. "We lure him into a trap here, and then we activate the wires. They'll carve him up like a Christmas turkey."

"It'll take a while for us to get those set up." Dib remarked, scratching his head. "You only have about two hours before your shift starts, and I've no idea if those possessed animatronics won't take notice."

Gaz looked thoughtfully at the schematics on the table as the clock in the kitchen idly tick-tocked, tick-tocked, and then she glanced up at its face, an idea coming to her. "If we could trick these idiots into thinking I'm still in the office, they'll keep coming around to it, and someone else could set up the wires."

"Well, then." Dib said with a calm nod. "I think we know what we have to do."

"Yep. I'll go get you the wig." Gaz said, patting him on the shoulder and exiting the room, Dib's mouth slightly falling open.

"Wait, ME? What about Skoodge or you just staying in-ohhhh." He hung his head and sighed, shaking it back and forth as he looked over at Skoodge, who was looking sadly at a nearby bowl full of mini-chocolates. "You don't want any? Or want to say anything?"

"I'm sorry, I don't...I mean I **can't** really eat that." Skoodge sighed. "I'm unable to really do much. I used to, but...my options are limited."

"Thanks for telling us Bloaty's weakness, though." Dib admitted, holding out a hand for Skoodge to shake, Skoodge quietly taking it, Dib shuddering. Ugh, he felt like he'd been in a freezer for the past week. "A-A-Appreciate it."

"I'm just sorry I couldn't help Zim and GIR and Minimoose. I'm glad I could help you, though. I like being helpful." Skoodge admitted quietly. "I always have. It made me...happy...knowing someone appreciated what I did. No matter who it was."

"I don't suppose there's anything else about the animatronics you picked up on?" Dib wanted to know as Skoodge turned away and looked out the window.

"They love going after children because Bloaty hates them. I know that."  
Dib rubbed his chin in a thoughtful fashion. "And Gaz said the ghost children want to help out. Maybe they can draw the animatronics away..." He mused.

"I'm surprised they were able to talk to her. Usually a ghost can only appear to those they had a connection towards. Are all of them children from Gaz and your's school?" Skoodge inquired, raising a nonexistent eyebrow up as Dib nodded.

"Yes, it looks like. Nick, Torque, Louie, I looked up all of them. They're all kids who went missing. I just don't know why the cops never figured out the commonality was Bloaty's Pizza Hog!" Dib muttered as he "harumphed" and rolled his eyes. "I mean, it was the last place they were all seen and NONE of the cops even saw fit to maybe do a sweep of the premises, dust for prints, check for blood splatter? None of that? Their families didn't bring it up? Nobody put two and two together?!"

"It could simply be that Bloaty won't let them come." Skoodge remarked softly, shaking his head back and forth. "Have you ever seen a cop within a mile of Bloaty's? Sometimes a ghost's mere presence can ward certain types of people away."

"Do you know all that because you had to contend with ghosts?"

"Well, I did put a virus into the water of the Slaughtering Rat People and it killed a distressing amount of them but...no, I haven't much experience with ghosts beyond pretending to be bust them. I, uh...apologize for that, too." Skoodge admitted to Dib.

"Water under the bridge." Dib insisted with a smile.

...

...

...

...the next night, "Gaz" was in the office, Dib prettied up, wearing sunglasses, a jacket and contacts beneath said sunglasses along with gloves and boots to try and look "Terminator Tough" as the wig slightly itched at his scalp. He kept the taser ready, hearing a sound he recognized all-too-well, that familiar faint whirring that told him Minimoose was making his way towards the door. Though the air was hot and humid, too sultry for Dib's taste because the air conditioning had broken down that night, Dib kept his cool. He calmly, ever-so-slightly turned his head to look at "Lil Bloaty" as it hovered just beyond the doorway, looking at the erected salt line.

"Oooh, what do we have here?" It asked. "Another salt line? Can't have that. Not when I wanna catch you and pop your eyeballs out so the Hunter can wear them like earrings. Though he'd really like to see how your organs look on the outside."

Lil' Bloaty bounced back and forth. "Then Bloaty'll take your bones and crush them up and we'll sprinkle them over the next pizza we serve! We always thought you and your brother were delicious!"

"Ew." "Gaz" muttered. "Degenerate pig. Literally."

"Just you wait, you'll be singing a different tune once I get rid of all this salt. Okay, truth be told, you won't be doing any singing, we'll burn your tongue out so you can't scream. Bloaty got soooo tired of them screaming for their mommies and daddies. As you might put it, "What WHINERS"-"

Dib had had enough and fired off the taser he whipped out from his jacket. It struck Minimoose's possessed form squarely in the forehead and his body jerked about like a rag doll being given a thrashing by a professional wrestler. He sizzled and sparkled, letting out an almost childlike cry before reeling back, eyes turned to dark slits.

"Clever girl." It whispered, slowly hovering away into the darkness as "Gaz" sighed and waited, looking over the monitors.

He cringed. Another murder was playing out. And this time, it was Keef's horrific demise playing out before the cameras in another foul mockery. Keef had a torn shirt, tears and snot intermingled on his face as he tried to wipe his nose on his arm, skittering across the floor of the arcade, trying to stay hidden. "I want my mommy!" He whimpered out, a voice ringing out through the air.

"Oh, Keef, why are you so afraid?" Zim's voice rang out, Keef's eyes widening.

"Z-Zim? Zim, is that you?" He asked. "You gotta help me, this crazy floating pig is trying to hurt me!" He called out, glancing left and right, the Hunter slinking up behind the arcade machine that Keef was hiding behind. Dib wished he could individually turn the screens off, wished he could block out what he knew was going to happen. He just covered his eyes, trying to ignore the unmistakable sound of Keef's body being forced onto the controls of the Vampire Piggy Hunter arcade edition, the joysticks going through his body and-

Thankfully the disgusting popping noises ended quickly. But unfortunately it was now replaced with the unmistakable sound of the Hunter's laughter as the disguised Dib turned around, seeing the Hunter animatronic standing there.

"Ahhh, yes. My finest work." The Hunter remarked, twirling his finger in the air. "You should have heard the way his brain began plopping out-oh! Wait! You **did.**" The Hunter mused, throwing his head back and laughing insanely as Dib gripped the desk, wanting to drive the damn thing through the animatronic's head and crush it like a grape. But he had to keep him distracted.

"Where's your friends, ZIM? I mean I know you didn't have any in real life." He said in a surprisingly good imitation of Gaz's voice. "Being dead sure made you get popular!"

"Shut your mouth, you stupid little troll-" The Hunter began to hiss, trying to move forward only to be stopped by the salt circle, smoke rising off his form as he glowered darkly at the disguised Dib. "...you can't stay in there forever." He remarked.

"Get out of here." Dib snapped, looking away, arms folded over his chest.

"I will return, Little Gaz." Zim's voice mockingly intoned as the Hunter stepped back into the hallway, Dib pulling out his phone, typing into it.

"HOW FAR ALONG?"

As it were, Gaz was, luckily,left to her devices right now. The other anuimatronics all knew she was meant to be in the office and this meant being in rooms very close by. So she was free to install the spring-loaded wires on either side of the walls, and was now screwing in the ones on the left walls. She'd done the ones on the ceiling and the floor, hiding them as best she could so nobody would be able to see them, now it was time for the ones easiest to reach.

She saw she had a text, thankful her phone was still set to vibrate, and typed back "Now on walls, will go as fast as can. Try to bring them all to you and stall, maybe?"

Dib cringed as he read the text, looking at the camera that faced the main dining area. But if all of them were there, it would mean none of them were anywhere near he still had four taser rounds and the runes, so he whistled sharply. "Hey! I'm getting boooored!" He said. "I could be playing your crappy new DRM-filled video game right now, Hunter!" He called out in his imitation of Gaz's voice, Dib soon rewarded by that familiar, awful sound that signified Bloaty's fast approach.

THRAHK THRAHK THRAHK.

"**Heya, kids! How's it going? Where's our special guest?"**

"She won't come out of the office and she's got a taser with her to keep me from blowin' the salt away. And those gummies in the vent are spoilin' the fun!"

"She's playin' mean."

"Well, that isn't nice, is it, Bloaty?"

"**If you don't play nice, you deserve to be punished.**" Bloaty muttered darkly. **"Bloaty Boy, if you could?"**  
BB giggled and Bloaty's horrific visage appeared from the shadows as he began to chuckle darkly, Dib trying not to look back at him as he glanced slightly over his shoulder. "What's so funny?" He asked in that same imitation of Gaz.

**"HehehehHEHEHEHEHEHE..."**

And then it happened. The lights flickered on and off, Bloaty's face mockingly grinning back at the disguised Dib before it all shut down, Dib turning pale.  
**HEEHEEHEEHEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..."**

Dib gripped the desk slightly, holding the taser up along with the flashlight, flashing it. Bloaty was gone. He ripped the sunglasses off, hiding behind the desk, panting slightly as he flashed the flashlight once again.

Now the Hunter was there, Minimoose's stolen form floating nearby, blowing at the salt. Dib held his taser up, trying to take aim, but when he fired it off, it missed, hitting the Hunter. It made him twitch slightly, a growl rising up...but then he smirked.

"You're not feeling pressure now, are you? No, you haven't experienced true pressure." It said calmly.

Dib put the flashlight on the desk, trying to re-aim the taser, Minimoose and the Hunter ducking back inside the dark expanse beyond the flashlight's reach as thumping came from the vent, Dib realizing just how serious this was, BB's laughter mockingly echoing through the vent grating. Without the lamp being capable of being turned on, this meant that he couldn't activate the runes, and the animatronics could get inside of the office and get to him. He quickly picked up his cell phone and began texting.

"GET POWER BACK ON."

Gaz, hiding in the women's bathroom, looked the text over. She'd figured out pretty quickly what was going on, and texted "OK" right back before slinking towards the exit, stopping when she heard the familiar sound of Bloaty coming close. She stuck herself up against the wall, holding in her breath, trying to ignore the horrific smell. It was like a mixture of rotten pizza that had been thrown out and cold iron, the stench assaulted your nostrils as she tried not to gag. Bloaty's voice wafted out through the blackness that engulfed the entire pizzeria as she grit her teeth slightly.

"**Come and play, kids! Aren't you ready for Bloaty? I can't wait to PLAAAAAAAAAAAAY.**"

_"Yeah, I'll bet."_ Gaz thought inwardly as she waited and waited before slowly slinking out of the bathroom, taking sight of a familiar sight-no way. That damn BB had what was very clearly the connector adapter to a power cable in his hand. She growled, diving on him and tackling him.

"You cut the power, huh!?" She hissed at him, kicking him into the nearby wall.

"Hey, no fair!"

"You're gonna talk about "no fair" after all you did? Hypocrite." Gaz snorted, pocketing the adapter just as she saw heard a horrible scraping sound and turned, seeing the sparks dancing through the darkness that came from the unmistakable sight of the Hunter scraping his sword along the wall.

"You can't escape from me, little Gaz." He whispered. "We've cut the power. Your attempt to escape is nothing but a pitiful faaaaailuuuure..."

Gaz took off running, the Hunter cackling madly, Gaz tearing down the hall, the hot, harsh air of the diner slamming into her lungs as Zim's borrowed voice mockingly rang through the air. The closet where the power was plugged into. Where was it? Why couldn't the power have been accessible from the office, where it made sense? Why so far in the back you could barely reach it?

It was then that she saw one of the ghostly children appear, his body shuddering, Gaz realizing he was gripping his head. "Please! Please, run!" He whimpered, Gaz realizing it was Nicholas's voice she was now hearing. "He's pushing us so hard to hunt you down and hurt you! We...we can't fight him anymore! RUN!" He screeched out, his mouth beginning to stretch, the blank repositories that were his eyes brimming over with blood that drizzled to the ground. ** "Run, Gaz! RUN!**"


	8. The Fourth Shift, Part 2

Gaz dove down the hall, Nicholas's screaming wail echoing through the air. The ghostly child was torn between his concern for Gaz and his forced loyalty to Bloaty as he stood in the Hunter's path, blood pooling out from the hollow sockets of his eyes. Gaz turned the corner, racing into the back room. The storage locker where all the spare ingredients, the meat, the packaged goods were kept and in a reasonably cool area, especially the closed-off meat section in the back. She began rifling through various packages as she heard the unmistakable sound of children wailing, realizing the other ghosts were now obviously closing in on her location and intent on helping Bloaty whether they wanted to or not. Luckily though, she found something.

Thank Heavens, she inwardly thought to herself. In addition to the flashlight and mace she'd brought with her, now she had something else. Dib might have had the taser...but she had a fire axe located inside a glass compartment with a fire hose and a fire extinguisher. An all-in-one package, but she'd settle for the fire axe for now, opening up the glass case as the unmistakable sound of the storage room being open rang through the air, the Hunter's voice echoing out.

"Gaz...come out, come out, wherever you are. I just want to talk! About skinning you. With my sword. Which I'll do after I'm done talking. You know I love to talk."

"Yeah, why DO you love to talk to yourself so much? Because you do! You talk too much!" Gaz yelled back, trying to throw her voice. Luckily it worked, Zim's possessed and desecrated face growled as the Hunter stabbed into a box nearby, the animatronic growling in annoyance as he pulled it out. Nothing but napkins.

"I can't help it if I prefer intelligent conversation."

"Again, why then do you always talk to yourself?" Gaz said, throwing her voice again as she slunk towards him, the axe in her hands as she grit her teeth, the lights in the storage room casting long shadows as the flickered, a deep, ugly, baleful red that seemed to bathe the entire room in blood. Gaz's eyes narrowed as Zim stabbed into another box, disappointingly drawing it out. Spare seat cushions, nothing more. He frowned, twirling the blade slightly as he glanced about.

"You think you're clever. But you're not." He whispered darkly as Gaz smirked. Idiot had no idea she was so close. He was just beyond another stack of boxes, all she had to do was sneak around and then-

But then one of the ghost children rose up, howling, head spasming back and forth and letting out a cry like a banshee as it hovered right in front of her. Gaz reeled back, swinging the axe and it pointlessly shifted through the ghost's head, Gaz frowning. Of course it wouldn't work, it was a damn ghost, they couldn't really be affected by-salt. She needed some salt or some rosaries or-

But the wail got the attention of the Hunter and his sword slid through one box nearby, inches from herself as she jumped back before the sword slid back out. She decided to kick it, the box whacking the Hunter in the face only for him to race towards her, that horrific wailing filling her ears as she ducked to avoid his swipe, then swerved to avoid another slash. She then launched the axe at him with a mighty swing, as it soared through the air with a WOOSH, their shadows clashing on the nearby wall as the Hunter stepped back to avoid his strike. His own blade shot at her as she let out a gasp, his blade cutting partially into her arm, but she barreled through, slamming into him as she struck back at him with her axe.

The fire axe slammed down into the animatronic's chest with a satisfying, almost meaty THA-THRUK sound as her own lifeblood dribbled onto the floor, black in the twisted lighting of the storage room as she struggled to stay focused, more ghost children entering. They all began to howl at once, blood beginning to rise up as if leaking up from some pool below. She panted and heaved, the Hunter just smirking a bit with his stolen face as he rose up from the floor she'd knocked him onto, launching another swing at her as she leapt back, slamming into some packages, Gaz flopping onto the floor as the Hunter grinned darkly and raced towards her.

But then Skoodge barreled out of nowhere, letting out a roar, tackling one of the ghost children, the others all silenced at this sudden display as the Hunter turned his head, Skoodge trying to pin the ghostly Keef down to the ground as Zim's face momentarily twitched. "Skoodge, wait, what-what are you?" He murmured quietly before he shook it back and forth. "You think he's going to help-" The Hunter began to say, turning back to Gaz-

SCHA-THWURK! The axe launched itself into his face as the Hunter howled in pure agony, dropping his blade and clutching at his skull, Gaz racing past him, snatching up the blade he'd dropped as she tore off down the nearby hallway as she made towards the office. Dib. She had to find Dib. She saw GIR's sneering face facing her at the end of the hallway, blocking the entrance as he tilted his head slightly to the side, looking her over.

"Oh, what do we have here? Widdle Gazzy wants to stop me from doing bad things?" He asked with a sadistic giggle. "So it's NOT you in there, is it? It's Dib."

"You keep away from him! Nobody makes my brother bleed but ME!" She proclaimed dramatically, swinging at GIR as he ducked to avoid her strike. She swung and slashed at him as he kept blocking the strikes, his and her forms illuminated by the swing of their arms, metal hitting metal and flashing through the darkness. Dib grit his teeth, re-aiming the taser, GIR's form flashing up again through the black before he fired it off, and this time it connected, GIR letting out a howl as Gaz, taking the chance, cut his arms off with a powerful overhead swing, kicking his incapacitated body back as Dib raced out of the office with her, the two making for the nearby hallway as Dib held up his smart phone and the schematics of the diner that he'd scanned into it. "Let's see...the power generator's not too far from the main dining hall." He said, the two quickly moving down the hall, hearing Bloaty's unmistakable laughter echoing through the air...

But Minimoose was even closer, a horrific, high-pitched laugh wafting into their ears as the horrific wails of the ghostly children began to fill the air as well, and Dib cringed as he looked down at the blood that was pooling below.

"...God, how many children did he really kill?!" He whispered out, seeing ghostly children standing in the hallway behind them, mouths and eyes like near-endless abysses just vomiting blood onto the floor as it began to rise higher and higher, Gaz and Dib now up to their ankles in blood.

"We just have to wait, Gaz!" Minimoose's voice rang out. "You and your brother are going to remain trapped here forever, singing in our symphony of suffering, trapped in the eternal cycle!"

**"And we'll have such. FUN. together."** Bloaty's voice whispered, now far, far too close for their liking, Dib and Gaz ducking just in time to avoid his arm sweeping over them as he tried to turn the corner, the two barreling down the swamped hallway, the blood now up to their knees as Gaz finally reached the closet. Dib tugged it open, Gaz holding the sword up in front of her, the horrific screeching wails of the children reaching a crescendo pitch as Bloaty began to laugh and laugh, getting closer, closer.

"I'm. Not Scared of you." Gaz snarled, her eyes now dark, furious slits as she thought about all this disgusting, hateful thing had done. "I will never be scared of you."

**"You will be."** He whispered. The blood was rising steadily higher. Now it was up to their waist and Gaz could feel it, she could feel the ghost children beneath her, they were tugging down, trying to pull her into the deep red, trying to drown her forever and keep her from ever escaping-

But then the power went back on, the blood fading as Dib wheeled about, smirking proudly as Gaz launched the blade through the air and it sailed towards Bloaty's face...

But then the clock struck 6, and the blade, Bloaty, the ghostly children, all of it faded away, vanishing into nothingness as Gaz panted and heaved, clutching the wound on her arm as Dib smiled slightly, seeing Skoodge making his way over to them, dusting his pristine uniform off as he shook their hands.

"Glad you helped." Gaz admitted. "You didn't suck for once, Skoodge. Kudos."

"I just wanted to be helpful." He offered to them. "I'm just sorry I can't stay any longer."

Dib blinked in surprise as he looked Skoodge over, confused. "Well what do you mean? Don't you want to help us defeat Bloa-"

But then he thought about what Skoodge had said before, his mouth hanging slightly open, eyes behind his glasses going wide as his arms hung loosely at his sides.

_"I'm sorry, I don't...I mean I __**can't**__ really eat that." Skoodge sighed. "I'm unable to really do much. I used to, but...my options are limited."_

"Wait." Dib murmured.

_"I'm surprised they were able to talk to her. Usually a ghost can only appear to those they had a connection towards. Are all of them children from Gaz and your's school?" Skoodge inquired, raising a nonexistent eyebrow up as Dib nodded._

"Wait a minute."  
_  
"It could simply be that Bloaty won't let them come." Skoodge remarked softly, shaking his head back and forth. "Have you ever seen a cop within a mile of Bloaty's? Sometimes a ghost's mere presence can ward certain types of people away."  
_  
"You...you're...?"  
_  
"Thanks for telling us Bloaty's weakness, though." Dib admitted, holding out a hand for Skoodge to shake, Skoodge quietly taking it, Dib shuddering. Ugh, he felt like he'd been in a freezer for the past week. "A-A-Appreciate it." _

"I should have said I HADN'T had much experience with ghosts." Skoodge said, his form becoming transparent as Gaz stepped back slightly, blinking in surprise. "But now, well..." He shrugged as he shook his head back and forth.

"That's how you were able to knock that ghost off his ass, you're a ghost yourself." Gaz realized, thinking back to how Skoodge had popped out of nowhere and had tackled Keef's spirit to the ground. "How did it happen?"

Skoodge patted his stomach. "I starved to death in the basement, Gaz. My spirit lingered on, unwilling to leave. Then you and Dib came and you told me what you were doing. I realized I had to try and help." He said sadly. "However I could. But now that I know you'll stop Bloaty, I...I don't really have unfinished business anymore. I have to move on." He said, shaking his head back and forth as the fat, tubby Irken stepped back, a soft, gentle light beginning to engulf his form as he waved slightly at them, giving a tiny smile.

"Skoodge, I...I didn't know. Why didn't you try to call us?" Dib wanted to know, looking kind of saddened by this. Skoodge had never really been a bad sort, especially as far as Irkens went. He'd always been civil, even kind sometimes, to Dib and other humans, especially Gretchen back in school. And he'd been helpful now and Dib had hoped Skoodge would keep helping. But to learn he'd starved to death alone in a basement, without any friends, it was...it was just so pathetic, so...sad.

"I had failed my best friend. I didn't have the heart or courage to ask anyone for help. I was...defective." Skoodge shuddered as he covered his face with one hand. "But you? You two can still change things. You can put Zim and GIR and Minimoose and the other's spirits to rest. Beat Bloaty. And..." He smiled again, his form almost utterly wiped from their view as he gave a final wave. "Thanks. For letting me feel like I was really needed, even if only for a little while. It felt...nice."

And with that, he was gone, leaving only shadows and dust in his wake as Dib took his glasses off, cleaning them with his jacket as Gaz just silently stared at where he'd been.

"...why did Mom never..." She finally got out. "...I don't understand it." Gaz admitted. "Why'd she never appear to us? Wouldn't that count as "unfinished business"? Didn't she think we missed her? That dad missed her?"

Dib didn't know what to say. He didn't think he could say anything. So he just gently put a single hand on her shoulder and she didn't shrug it off as she just closed her eyes and pinched the space between them, trying to take it all in, trying not to let pain of the heart bleed out before Dib finally spoke.

"Let's go home." He said quietly. "...I'll make you pancakes for breakfast tomorrow. Extra chocolate chip."

"I'd like that." Gaz mumbled out.


	9. Closing Time, Part 1

Gaz normally loved chocolate chip pancakes. But she barely felt like eating as she slowly put piece after piece into her mouth, chewing softly as Dib sat across from her at the table. He bit his lip slightly as the light filtered in from the kitchen window onto the table, illuminating him in an almost peaceful, angelic sense, whilst Gaz laid in darkness, head slightly bowed, having barely touched her chocolate milk.

"Gaz, I'm sorry." He finally spoke up. "Sorry you've been through all this and that we have to keep relying on just holding them off. But the trap's laid. All we need to do is take care of the other animatronics and keep them away from Bloaty and you so they can't gang up on you and ruin it. After all, the wires are only built for one and we don't want Zim slashing through or BB fiddling about-"

"What would help is if we could get the ghost children back on our side. I think they do want to help, but Bloaty's amped up his control of them." Gaz mumbled, mouth half-full of pancakes as she leaned back in her chair, putting her fork down. She rubbed her eyes and moaned. "I don't know how we're going to do that, though. How am I supposed to reach them AND keep the animatronics away AND get Bloaty into the trap at the same time?"

"I think I might have a way. We need to trap the ghost kids. If we get them all together and far away enough from Bloaty, you may be able to reach them. And to add in some extra protection, we can use the runes." Dib offered, putting a hand on his chest.

"But we can't spend even more hours painting another room the way we did with the office. We don't have the time and it's Friday, one of the pizzeria's most busiest days." Gaz insisted as she shook her head back and forth, purple hair flopping about. "There's people there up until the very tip of closing time, we'd never get another room done by the time Bloaty does his rounds."

"I wasn't going to suggest we paint the room. I was going to suggest we paint YOU." He said, pointing at Gaz. "I mean, think about it. Why wouldn't it work? If it can protect a room from most spirits, why can't it protect you?" Dib wanted to know, Gaz raising an eyebrow up, tilting her head slightly to the side. She'd heard of odder things, surely. It couldn't really hurt. "We'll just need a portable lamp from the garage and then we can paint you in the glow-in-the-dark paint we used."

Gaz thought about this, arms folded across her chest as she looked across the table at Dib and how the light enveloped him. He looked so damn saintly right now, as if divinely inspired. Somehow...she had a good feeling about this plan. A hunch. And so she gave a nod.

"Alright. Let's do it. But I'm gonna take a looong nap first." She admitted, finally flopping her head down into the syrup, quite wiped from last night as a piece of chocolate pancake went flying and landed squarely on Dib's plate.

"...oh. Well!" He chuckled a bit and then began carving into it. Waste not, want not.

...

...

...

...within a few hours, Gazzy was awake again, and Dib was getting a portable lamp ready with the right kind of bulb as she painted her arms and legs and face with the special paint. It would, however, require some help when it came time to do her back...so after about half an hour she took off her shirt then her bra, whistling as Dib entered the room, then reeled back. "GAH! You coulda told me!" He exclaimed.

"Whiner. Get the paint onto my back. I already did my front." She said, rolling her eyes. "So you don't have to worry about being all creeped out by your sister's breasts, okay?"

"Sorry, sorry." Dib said, gulping as he took the paint bucket and the brush, and began to do the necessary swirls and curves of the runes as he slightly chewed on his lip. "I really hope this works. Just one more night."

"If this works out...and even if it doesn't? I'm gonna raze that place to the fuckin' ground. And dance on the ashes."

Dib gave a small grin. "I would have thought you'd be against that. I thought you swore after going to Bloaty World you'd never stand in another line again!" He remarked.

Gaz chuckled a little. "Heh. That's actually pretty funny." She admitted as Dib kept painting on her back before blinking. "Wait, so have you, like, been talking to other people about Bloaty's?"

"I know I said I doubted the church would believe me, but I went in to go see the priest in town. And he's Sara's dad."

Gaz blinked, mouth slightly hanging open. "Wait. Was Sara one-"

Dib sighed. "Sara wasn't. But her sister Haggy was."

_In fact, she had been the one who was making fun of Bloaty's size, Sara had explained as her father sat nearby, squinting slightly at Dib, rubbing his own glasses as she held her head down, eyes closed as Dib listened intently in the pew. The light from the stained glass windows gently drifted through, dust motes swaying back and forth as Dib let Sara continue. "She was admonishing him for being a glutton." Sara mumbled. "Haggy really liked using the virtues she'd just learned in Sunday School. Liked talking about the virtues and the vices. We did a lesson on Lust and she'd complain about how awful Romeo and Juliet were being in normal school the next day. We did a lesson on Charity and she'd donate all her allowance that day to everyone she saw begging on the street."_

_"And Bloaty didn't much like a "stupid brat" making fun of his size?" Dib asked of her, Sara's father adjusting his glasses again, continuing to squint._

_"Eh? Can you speak up? It's hard to hear you."_

_"I can hear him fine enough, Dad." Sara insisted with a look back at her father as her deep blue eyes looked back up at Dib. "Yeah. I suppose Bloaty didn't like it much. I didn't want to believe it was on purpose but when Torque said what he said and when I heard the rumors about other kids getting nasty looks and stuff from him, I started to think that he really did do it on purpose. And when other kids went missing, I began to wonder if he'd had anything to do with it."_

_"He did. He's still in there and I've got to put an end to him."_

_"Well, in that case...Dad, can't we just exorcise the place?"_

_Her father sighed as he took off his glasses and waved them slightly in the air. "I'd have to get it cleared with the Church first. But I can do something for you right now, and that's give you a blessing from the Lord."_

_"Well, I brought this." Dib admitted, holding out a large kitchen knife. "I know it ain't "traditional" but my Mom used it all the time to do all her cooking. It was Dad's gift, he had it finely-crafted with lasers to make it incredibly sharp."_

_Sara looked it over as Dib handed it to her and she then handed it to her father as he took it over to a nearby little podium that had a large bowl in it full of holy water. Closing his eyes, Sara's father began to pray as he submerged it into the water, Sara looking over at Dib as she held his shoulder. "Oh! You're cold."_

_"I've had a rough week." He mumbled out with a sigh. "...but it's almost done."_

_"I'm kinda glad you came." She admitted. "A lot of people would be happy to see that place torn down after all it's taken from us. We could never truly prove anything, but...well, losing my sister kind of changed my priorities on what I did and didn't believe."_

_"Losing family does that to you." Dib told her, giving her a gentle hug. "Grief gets great. So I guess we gotta be good to each other when we can."_

_"And thank God for that." Sara added with a small smile._

Gaz blinked a bit, Dib finishing up his story and the painting, putting the brush away as he stepped back. "All done."

His sister got off the bed, putting her bra and her shirt back on as she dusted herself off and turned back to look at Dib as he sat there. "So where's the knife?"

"I stuck it in withe the rest of your supplies in your backpack, wrapped up in a towel so you don't accidentally stab yourself." Dib informed her. "I hope it's enough."

"It's going to have to be." Gaz said. "All of this." She said, gesturing at herself, giving her brother a nod as she set her jaw and smiled. "It'll have to be and it WILL be. Tonight we end it. Tonight it's Bloaty who's going to be screaming in fear. Tonight, we put an end to our big, fat, porky friend and I send HIM into a nightmare world."

Dib smiled and smacked his fist into his palm. "I feel like BACON for dinner."

**THAT NIGHT**

It was 12:30 AM and Gaz was ready.

She'd calmly paced back and forth, twirling her knife in one hand as she glanced about in the dark of the diner. The pizzeria was as quiet as the grave for now, but she knew it wouldn't last. Any moment now, he'd be coming. And she knew how to set him off.

"Everywhere there's lot of piggies, leading piggy lives! You can see them go to dinner with their piggy wives! Clutching forks and knives! TO EAT! THE! BA! CON!" She cried out, singing loudly and proudly as her voice carried out through the diner. It reverberated off the walls as the unmistakable sound of the Hunter echoed back, his sword going SKRRRRRRKKKK across the wall as he dragged it. His faint, sinister giggling laugh wafted through the pizzeria as Gaz's amber eyes closed and she took in a deep breath.

"You think you're so funny, huh? My dear little Bloaty, would you be so kind as to blow away that salt ring once I get this closed door open?" She heard him say in a mockingly polite tone, Gaz clinging to the wall, bag of salt in one hand as she waited, waited...

"Okley-dokely-do!" The stolen voice of Minimoose proclaimed as the Hunter began jiggling with the door.

"Oooooh, I'm comin' in, Gazzy! I'm coming-"

He yanked the door open and frowned darkly. No salt. The lights were on, sure, and the runes were there but...the computer was off, and Gaz was nowhere to be found. Indeed, Gazzy was setting up an additional trap whilst the Hunter glanced about before letting out a yell. "BLOATY! She ain't in there! Get those ghosts to work or something, have them track her down so we can go and skin her!"

THRAHK THRAHK THRAHK.

**"Really, must I do everything for you?" **Bloaty snorted, rolling his eyes. So much so one almost popped out and he frowned, putting it back in with a squelchy "PLORKA-PLOP" before rubbing his hands together, then whistling sharply, loudly. Gaz could feel the air get colder, more bitter, she could now see her own breath in front of her as she exhaled. The ghostly specters of the children slowly emerged from midair around the diner, one appearing right in the bathroom where she was, Gaz looking squarely at the girl and immediately making a guess.

"You're Hagar, right? Sara's sister?"

Hagar quivered and Gaz could tell the kid was truly trying to hold back and not say anything, not give away to Bloaty where she was. Gaz sighed and stepped back, putting the bag of salt down as she knelt by the backpack. "Tell you what. Go tell the other ghosts I'm here and tell Bloaty you're 'taking care of me'." She said. "Will that satisfy that fat pig?"

Haggy nodded quietly, her little white form slightly quivering, Gaz briefly seeing a flash of whom she truly was before she turned back into the almost featureless visage of an empty-socketed spirit, the other ghosts beginning to sweep into the room through the opened doorway. Gaz waited, counting as they all filed in, her knife on the floor, hands around something smooth and firm in the backpack as she waited, waited, waited...

Then the last of them filed in, the Hunter smirking as he stood outside. "Go ahead, bring her to me so I can cut her into teeny, tiny little pieces. I'll stick little toothpicks into the quivering chunks of your flesh and I'll serve them around the diner as a reward once you're-" He began to remark, tone full of pompous arrogance.

"If you're gonna kill someone, DO IT, don't STAND THERE TALKING ABOUT IT!" Gaz yelled out, launching a baseball through the air. It smacked into the bag of salt that she'd tied up above the ceiling and the contents spilled out onto the doorway, keeping the Hunter from getting in whilst spilling some ONTO him as he reeled back, howling as the ghosts blinked, Gaz looking about at all of them.

"You all know who I am." She said. "And you all know that when you were alive, I was a complete, total, and absolute BITCH to all of you." She admitted straightly, giving them all a solemn nod as she held the knife up...and then put it down in front of her, head bowed. "I won't make excuses. I was a cunt. My mom dying and leaving us doesn't excuse that. My dad not being around doesn't excuse it. After all, Dib had to deal with that too, and he always kept trying to help people in his own kinda stupid way." Gaz chuckled, shaking her head back and forth. "So...I'm not going to do anything to you." The purple-haired teenager mumbled out. "I just want you to know I want to stop Bloaty from hurting anyone else...and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I did."

She closed her eyes. "I probably don't deserve your forgiveness. I'd just like to ask you to help me stop Bloaty so he can't keep killing kids the way he killed you. To get your vengeance. To get justice. Will you at least let me do that?"

The others were silent for what seemed to be a long time, the Hunter's swearing, furious voice drifting out from the next room. He was coming back with "Lil' Bloaty" to blow away the salt. But then Gaz felt the gentle, soft hands of over a dozen little forms on her as they lifted her up and Nicholas's ghost put the knife in Gaz's palm, calmly nodding at her.

"You've had so much taken already. We're not going to let anything else be taken from you. Tonight, the nightmare ends." He said.

Gaz nodded, standing up as she slunk behind the door, then looked at the ghosts. "Can you guys help lift me up?"

They all grinned.

...

...

...

...The Hunter himself grinned, his stolen face cocky and smug as he made his way towards the bathroom, Lil' Bloaty floating nearby, fan at the ready. "Oh, little Gaaaaz? We've got a present for you! A nice hot sword to the stomach." He said, holding his sword up as they walked towards the lady's bathroom. "We'd love to share it with you. Again. And AGAIN. AND AGAIN. First I'm going to take you to the kitchen. I'll heat the sword up and carve my name in your back so you'll remember who it really was that killed-"

But he stopped, gaping at the empty bathroom, frowning as he looked at the stalls. ALL of them were open. She couldn't be hiding in one of them, could she? Lil' Bloaty began to blow away the salt, the WHIRRRRR going through the air as the Hunter began to sharpen his blade on his clawed glove, eyes narrowing to dark, furious red slits. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" He hissed, the salt finally getting blown away as he entered the bathroom...

And Gazzy, who'd been lifted up onto the door and had wedged herself carefully in the corner of the wall thanks to the help of the ghosts, launched herself through the air, the knife held high. It sang as it whizzed down, stabbing into Lil' Bloaty's head as he immediately collapsed onto the floor, letting out a sudden gasping squeal as if a pig was having its throat slit. The Hunter wheeled around, Gaz holding the knife up as she got into a fighting stance and gave a proud smirk.

"Let's put an end to this dance, "lover boy"." She whispered.


	10. Closing Time, Part 2

_It took me three seconds to fall in love with the Phillies._

_When it came to the greatest sport of all, as far as my mother was concerned, Pennsylvania only had the Phillies. They were our team, and that was it. Football could go fuck itself. It was just, as Mom said, a bunch of people banging their heads into each other. And you had to be "brain damaged to like it"._

_No, for her, baseball was a true sport. It didn't involve violence on the scale football did. No, it was classy. It was tasteful. Almost elegant._

_I didn't believe it at first. And neither did my brother. We were little jerks just one year apart and barely starting Elementary school. Barely able to appreciate the game._

_But in three seconds we fell in love with it._

_We got captivated. Entranced. It was...amazing. To my young mind, it looked like a guy was trying to fend of a bullet with a plastic straw._

_Then came the cry of "safe". All at once, the crowd became an amorphous blob of white that rose up and I began to feel the energy. The other team's manager was whining about a bad call to the ref. The batter had two strikes. Pitcher threw-_

_STRIKE! And like that, I was a seven year old girl who'd fallen in love with baseball. All because my mom dragged me there. And to think, I'd only wanted to go for the hot dogs I knew she'd buy me._

_...my mom was great that way._

_Things were looking good. The game was well in hand. The Phillies were ahead by three, the pitching coach was sent out to bring in our closer, and then...moments later...it happened._

_The longest home run I've ever seen to this day. Grand Slam. Four runs._

_...we lost._

...

...

...

...Gaz could feel the blood rushing through her as she circled around her prey. Her eyes were alit with a burning flame as she licked her lips slightly, a bit of a giggle to her tone as she looked into the Hunter's eyes. His stolen face he'd ripped from Zim now registered an emotion she had been yearning to see as the lights in the bathroom flickered on and off, and their shadows danced upon the walls. The dark, oppressive environment of the diner was beginning to make way for something new, for now it was Gaz who was confident, secure and cocky as she spun her knife about in one hand and smirked at the Hunter. And it was he that seemed like a deer in the headlights, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing and what was about to happen to him. Now she saw it. The emotion she'd wanted plastered on his stolen face was obvious.

Fear.

Fear was **hers **to give.

"I have been waiting for this moment for so...damn...long." Gaz growled out, launching forward, the knife striking at the Hunter. It whizzed through the air, a silvery sliver that almost cut the Hunter's arm clean off as he reeled back, just barely avoiding her slash. He tried to regain his sense of composure as Gaz kept slashing away at him. "What's the matter? Not so much fun when you're the one at the recieving end, now is it?!" She roared.

"Persistent little bitch!" He snarled, shooting forward at her, but Gaz ducked, avoiding his swing. He was furious and angry and that meant he wasn't thinking, so she sliced upward after ducking below his strike, and he howled as he reeled back, clutching his chest.

"Not so fun now that the Hunter's become the HUNTED!" She said, tossing her cap away and holding the knife up. She licked some of the oil off it...she didn't care. The idea she could hurt these things. KILL them. See them in real pain and terror?

It made the oil taste like fuckin' champagne to her.

The Hunter reeled back, clutching at his chest with one hand, but he didn't give up. He swung downward at Gaz, and she swerved away to avoid it. Another broad strike, but this too was easily avoided before she saw him ready to charge at her, grunting darkly, building up to a gutteral roar as he launched himself at her with a snarl. She swiftly moved to the side, foot stuck out as he was tripped and fell down, down onto the floor. Gaz took hold of her knife, trying to bring it down onto his head, but the Hunter was a lot faster than he looked, and he wasn't going to let himself be killed so easily.

He rolled away, quickly rising up, and kicking Gaz squarely in the face. She howled, feeling a KRAKKA-THRAK sound that indicated he'd probably broken a cheekbone and he laughed in satisfaction before he saw Gaz rise up, holding the knife steady, her face cold, firm and unyielding. She was not afraid anymore, and this made the Hunter's laughter die in his throat. He took a nervous step back as she advanced, then tried to swing at her. She struck back, and knocked his blade to the side. He swung again as she kept advancing, and she knocked his sword away once more. He swung a third time-

But third time was not the charm. Gaz ducked and slammed the knife into his shoulder, getting a good hit in as she yanked hard. It ripped the thing clean off, the Hunter howling in a voice all-too-familiar to Zim's. But Gaz wasn't going to stop now. She tried to slash at his neck, but he ducked, diving across the floor and prying the gloved fingers that held the sword open as he took hold of it from off the bathroom floor. He held the sword up in his other hand, Gaz chuckling a bit. "Really? Zim wasn't left handed and I KNOW the Vampire Piggy Hunter wasn't."

"Shut up!" He snarled as he swung at her, wild and furious and baleful, practically spitting at her, oil leaking down from his chest and from his sliced-off shoulder like a sieve. His tone was high-pitched now, angry and bitter and almost childish in it's rage. "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" He roared as he kept swinging at her. "Why don't you just die like all the rest of those little brats!? You're just a stupid little girl!"

"No. You're not fighting a stupid little girl." She said with a dark grin, ducking and swiftly moving forward, suddenly shooting up as she did. She knocked his blade to the side with a harsh elbow bump whilst her knife shot up, and she struck.

GLAR-GLORK!

It found it's way right into the Hunter's neck. The Hunter dropped his sword, letting out a disgusting, bubbly, denying scream as he struggled and flailed about, hopelessly unable to do anything but die as she twisted and twisted. It was almost like gutting a pig, and she had to admit, she'd be lying if she didn't feel a sense of satisfaction for what was happening. After everything this disgusting prick had done, it was good for him to get what was coming to him.

She finally twisted one last time and the head plopped off, the body spasming on the floor, twitching about and oil gushing everywhere as she "hmmphed" and turned to look at the head as the eyes rolled about. The head of the Hunter let out a final gasp, a croaking rattle before...

Stillness. Gaz waited a few moments, hoping to see more, but...nothing. She blinked in surprise, amber/brown eyes looking the scene over as she frowned a little. She would have thought maybe Zim...

She sighed, shaking her head. How pathetic. Was his face all that stuck around in the end? He didn't even have the decency to have his spirit try and linger on for-

And then a flash of something faint rose up and she turned, Zim's spectral form slowly rising up from the Hunter. He blinked slowly before making his way over to her, looking up at her.

"You got...taller." He remarked, his voice a faint echo, slightly subdued.

"Yeah."

He blinked again, before making towards the exit of the bathroom, the ghostly children parting. "I have to get GIR." He said, his voice softer than normal as Gaz readied her knife, following after.

Winning felt GOOOOOD.

...

...

...

..._I didn't pick up swearing from DAD. I'll tell you that. I agreed with mom's instant remark of regret after the team lost that game._

_"FUCK." She growled. "F-Fucking Phillies." She muttered, holding her face in one hand. "...sigh." A shake of her head. "Still...good game otherwise! Whatcha think?"_

_"This sucks." Dib muttered. "They blew it."_

_"I coulda caught that last one and I'm a little girl!" I complained. "DIB coulda caught it and he's worse than a little girl!"_

_Dib didn't even object to this. His anger towards the Phillies for their failure knew no bounds._

_"Look, truth be told, it's not anything to get too mad over." Our mother Peg admitted as she knelt down and put a hand on our shoulders. "If the players got upset over every loss, they'd quit and work as street scrubbers or something. You can't always win. That's how life works. Sometimes it doesn't matter how hard you try, you lose anyway. Do you understand?"_

_"...yeah." Dib sighed._

_"Oh, C'MON." I moaned. "Why CAN'T we win, though?"_

_"Because Life's a long game. Some you win, some you lose, and it's good that you lose once in a while. Because it makes the times you win seem all the sweeter. Maybe next time, okay? We'll come again, see if they win." Mom told us._

_"Maybe next time". Our credo. Our mantra. I'd remember this. AND the speech. Because we went every month of baseball season. Every single time there was a game. And I don't know how...but SOMEHOW we ended up in the worst seasons they'd ever know, because the Phillies just. Kept. Losing._

_On the one hand, I got to see the owner ejected for charging the mound. That was something._

_But our mom kept reminding us of that lesson._

Dib, meanwhile, waited for Bloaty. He was the distraction, calmly standing at the end of one of the diner's long hallways. There were only two ways to approach the intersection where he was and sure enough, he could hear Bloaty making his way towards him from the south side. That same, ugly, repetitive thumping noise.

THRAHK THRAHK THRAHK.

Dib held his flashlight up, shining it directly in Bloaty's face, cringing as he saw the glassy, soulless singular human eye Bloaty had, the other a disturbing black abyss with a single dot. It pierced through the blackness, gazing at Dib as he mockingly waved, flexing his fingers and giving Bloaty the biggest, s-t eating grin he'd ever had.

"Hey there, Bloaty! How about comin' over and giving me a hug?" He asked. "Or are you too busy tonight with the other members of NAMBLA?" The paranormal investigator asked, a spirited jaunt to his voice as he stuck his tongue out at the phantom pig.

Who was not amused.

**"You laugh. But you won't laugh when your soul belongs to me and I strip all from you." **

"You don't scare me, Bloaty."

Bloaty gave an unmistakable and sickening smile as he placed an enormous single hand on the wall. **"I will change that perception."**

The lights on the wall began to flicker on and off, the screaming cries of children echoing through the air. The walls began to ooze, dripping with blood as it slowly poured down onto the floor below, Bloaty advancing towards Dib with a sadistic gleam in his eye, Dib taking a slight step back. The blood was coming down more heavily than before and he cringed, why was it getting so damn hot-

Then he realized why. The wallpaper was burning up, no, now it was the walls of an oven, a gigantic oven that had no end as a simple grating beneath his feet was all that kept Dib from falling down. Above his head came a sickening bubbling and gurgling sound and Dib almost vomited on the spot as he realized what was now drizzling down around him wasn't blood. Well, not JUST blood. No, it was blood and fat and muscle and flesh, children were being cooked in the oven, and he realized Bloaty was trying to break his mind, to shatter him by showing him what had befallen the innocents before.

**"They were so surprised in the end. You would be positively amazed at how many of those damn brats lasted up to an hour. But never more than that. Certainly not your friend Zim."  
**  
"He's not my!" Dib began to say, but he decided now was not the time as a disgusting blob of grease just barely missed him. He bolted for the open exit, for the kitchen, Bloaty thundering after him, laughing psychotically as Dib panted and heaved.

"You'll belong to me just as the others! You're not going to escape!" Bloaty roared out, Dib glancing back and giving him another raspberry.

"You'll have to catch me first, and I can outrun a fatty like-"

"Ooh, Mary's gonna get baked into a pizza pie!"

Oh no. OHHH no. Dib turned whiter than a sheet, face twisting back to the front of the enormous oven as it continued to swell in heat and intensity. There, at the front door of the kitchen, looking over at him, was GIR'S form. BB was standing by him, the two giggling a bit.

"Oh no no no no!" Dib whispered.

"Do you think we should go help him?" GIR asked, scratching his head, pondering it. "I'd ask Nicky, but he's gone."

BB blinked suddenly, turning to look at GIR, confused. "Oh? Well, um...do you like pizzas?" He asked, GIR's face lighting up.

"Oh, I LOVE pizzas!" GIR said, clasping his stubby little hands together, Dib bolting for the exit even faster, sweat pouring down his brow, the flames beneath his feet threatening to rise up through the gate and turn him into smouldering ash. BB cheerily clasped GIR on the shoulders, beaming.

"Well, we should help Bloaty make this pizza!"

"Master always said Dib was delicious!"

"Wait, seriously?!" Dib asked, mouth slightly agape as he momentarily halted in place. Okay, that was a little disturbing to know. Had Zim been into...then again it wasn't like he hadn't ever thought about it, but still-

A lick of flame rose up and Dib yelped as it whizzed past his glasses. GIR and BB approached the oven, BB reaching for the door as GIR made for the nearby cupboards, whistling cheerily. "Imma gonna make the table!" He announced.

"Oh no no no no no! You don't need to do that! I don't taste very good!" Dib yelled out.

"Guess we'll find out, won't we?" BB inquired with a dark grin.

THA-SHULK!

And then he blinked, hand going to his mouth as he held up the oil that was leaking out from it. And for good reason, because Gaz's knife had sailed straight through the air and struck him right in the middle of his forehead. He let out a small "huh" before collapsing on the spot, GIR turning around to look at Gaz and-

The ghostly, almost utterly transparent figure who was standing by her in the doorway. Dib gaped in surprise as GIR's darkened, reddened eyes suddenly became a soft shade of light blue and his mouth slightly hung open. "Masta? Gazzy?" He asked.

As he took a step forward, something began to happen. Bloaty let out a furious cry of denial, Dib racing out of the oven, now finding himself growing to normal size as he slammed the door shut behind him. As GIR kept moving forward, it was as if the true GIR was stepping out from the walking cocoon the body had become. The ghostly figure of GIR slowly made it's way out of the robotic shell as it slowly halted in place halfway across the kitchen, walking into Zim's arms as Zim clutched him tightly and then looked over at Dib. He tilted his head to the side a bit, and then chuckled.

"You probably would have been delicious." He remarked before looking back at Gaz, giving her a slight little wink before he began to fade, GIR cheerily waving goodbye at them both, Dib cringing as he took off his jacket, panting a bit and wiping his brow as Gaz walked over to him.

"He stuck you in an oven? That is one sick, twisted little pig." She admitted. "He made his house out of dead kids, evidently."

"And with them on your side and his other servants gone, he's losing power." Dib reasoned before Bloaty's hateful and baleful roar filled the air.

**"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU STUPID LITTLE BRATS!"**

Dib and Gaz raced out of the kitchen, the entire diner appearing to shake and shudder, Gaz grabbing Dib's hand, cringing. It was still so damn cold. But the dark glare of Bloaty as he stood across from the main dining hall was even colder.

"**I have had quite enough! You've been making fun of me long enough! NO MORE! I'm gonna crush you little SHITS!"**

_"He's lost his cool."_ Gaz realized inwardly as Bloaty shot towards them, lumbering at a pitiful charge, snarling darkly. But he was in position, and so were they. Gaz pulled out the remote she'd brought with her from out of the backpack she wore and held it up, pointing it at Bloaty as she and Dib ducked down. It was time for him to pay for all he did.

With a shot like a bullet, they sailed out from the walls and the ceiling, the wires slicing and wrapping around Bloaty, grabbing hold of his arms and legs. He let out a furious gasping growl, struggling to get himself free, but to no avail. The wires simply dug into him the more he struggled about, Gaz and Dib keeping down to avoid getting ensnared as bloody oil leaked all over the floor and he howled and squealed like the pig he was. He roared his denial as the wires cut into him, Gaz finally launching herself forward, knife held high, and aim true. She sliced down, cutting him from the bow tie he wore down to where his belly button was, and Bloaty began to **howl**.

It was as if the entire diner itself was being cut into, his screams almost defeaning, but Gaz didn't care. She and Dib watched with satisfaction as the bloody oil began to splurt all over the floor and onto them, a cleansing baptism as Bloaty's human eye popped out of it's socket and he screamed and screamed and SCREAMED. But then their looks of triumph became horror as they began to slide out, one at a time.

Children. The dead bodies of children slid out of Bloaty's form, slumping onto the floor, eyes unseeing, mouths slightly open, others wide and horrified, almost perfectly preserved as Bloaty's body continued to convulse. One by one the blood-soaked young corpses slid out of the monstrous pig animatronic's form, his remaining eye becoming nothing but emptiness as his howl began to die away, and the last body slid out...

Nicholas. All of the kids had somehow been in him all this time. Gaz felt a disgusted shudder rising in her as Dib gently knelt by several of the bodies, especially Hagar, closing their eyes as Gaz knelt by Nick's. She took hold of his shoulder, turning him onto his back, his eyes staring sightlessly at the ceiling as she gently hung her head, trying to surpress the urge to cry. At last, she let out a pained intake of air, gently closing his eyes before she and Dib slowly rose up, turning around.

One by one, all of the ghost children entered the hall, slowly walking past the tables, a faint, gentle light around their bodies as Dib blinked, Nicholas taking his hand and pulling him slightly down. He whispered in Dib's ear and Dib blinked, then nodded a bit, a sad smile coming to his features as he ruffled Nick's hair. Nicholas turned to Gaz as the other ghostly children's forms, now more visible, more like real children, all stood by Dib.

"Gaz...thank you. Th-Thank you and Dib f-fuh-fuh-for this." Nicholas admitted with a nod.

Gaz nodded slightly, then looked at Dib, and blinked at him in confusion. Something wasn't right here. Why was Dib looking almost-

Then Dib approached her and took her hand, and this time, it did feel warm. He held it in both hands, and rested his head against hers. And with this, she understood. Somehow, it made sense.

"...when did it happen?" She asked softly.

"When the Hunter first threw his sword. It didn't just go into my eye, Gaz." He told her with a soft, sad smile.

This time Gaz couldn't hold back her tears. She began to struggle to speak. "I-I can't lose you too." She insisted, wrapping her arms around him. "Damn it, you can't leave me! YOU CAN'T _FUCKING LEAVE ME_!" She screamed out, sobbing into his chest, Dib returning the hug as he let her get it all out. "I've got nothing else! I only had you! I...only ever had you for so long and...you can't go, not when I need you most of all!"

Dib didn't say anything. He just let her keep crying, quietly stroking her back, his form soft and warm against her body as he saw her lift her head up, reddened, tear-stained eyes staring into his.

"You've been with me for so long. I can't let you go like this."

"You're not. Because I always was with you..." He said, gently stepping back, taking his jacket and putting it around Gaz, taking his glasses off as well and handing them to her as he softly smiled, his injured eye healing before her eyes. Dibbun Membrane gave a final smile, nodding once at his sister.

"And I always **will **be."

And then he was gone.

...

...

...

..._It was another day at the stadium. And I acted like a little bitch all the way there, making it painfully obvious to my mom I would rather be pecked to death by ducks than sit through another game where the Phillies failed._

_"We've got a good lineup this year. Like the look of it. We could really do some damage-"_

_"We've been doing this for two years. They're gonna lose." I sighed._

_"Well it doesn't matter if they do. It's good to lose once in a while. Makes winning all the-"_

_"Mom, c'mon. Skip the speech?" Dib asked, our mother sighing as she pouted a bit._

_"Fine." She remarked, and I folded my arms over my chest, "harrumphing"._

_So Dib and I sat together with Mom, her standing to my left in silence, and we were watching the Phillies getting blown out. Another rotten, lousy game of-_

_Or so I thought. Because then something remarkable happened._

_The Phillies started to win. To WIN. They began to bounce back. Their bats connected hard with balls that sailed across the sky like white doves. My brother's mouth agape, he began to become filled with a sense of pride as I felt a delighted glee bubbling up inside me usually utterly untapped within my being._

_And it happened. We won._

_"WE WON!" I yelled, punching the air. "YES! YES! Mom, mom, did you see-?"_

_But she didn't have to say a word. The whole message of the moment was written all over her face._

_"I get it, I get it." I said. "Life is a long season. Some you win..."_

_And that day, we were winners. The Phillies had won for once in their life. And I was sharing a seat with my mother and my brother in Shea Stadium. When we got home, Dad was actually waiting this time and he picked me and Dib up when we went to embrace him. He had been watching the game from the television, and had been drawn away from his experiment on perpetual energy by the shocking revelation that the Phillies had been winning._

_"Can you believe it? We won!" Dib exclaimed._

_Life made perfect sense to me in that moment. And I couldn't have been happier._

_A week later Mom was dead. And within five years, so was Dad._

_And God._

_I miss her. Her and dad. I miss them so much._

_...and I miss Dib._

Gaz put her hand down on her son's shoulder, smiling at him before she pointed out at the pitcher. "You keep an eye on him." She said, her glasses shining in the light of the beaming midday sun. "The stadium's nothing, I paid good money to draft him."

"Did you really have to have Bloaty's sponsor him though?" Her son asked, pouting a bit, a waft of black hair flopping about atop his head as he folded his arms over his chest. "I can't believe they're still doing business with you after you burned down that place."

"When you're eighteen and old enough, you can buy someplace and burn it down too. I promise." Gaz chuckled.

"But they're been losing all month, Mom. I dunno. Can't you get your money back?"

Gaz just smiled, turning back towards the field, her ten year old boy sipping on some Poop cola as she shook her head. "Sometimes you don't always win. And that makes the times you do win all the sweeter."

And with that, she turned her head a bit, blinking. She wasn't sure how she could hear it in the roars of the crowd as the pitcher managed a fluke, catching the ball that shot right at him, but she did. Maybe it was just her imagination. Maybe nothing at all.

But she was sure she could hear a voice whispering across the years.


End file.
